Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God Cares for His People
139 O Lord, You have looked through me and have known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I get up. You understand my thoughts from far away. 3 You look over my path and my lying down. You know all my ways very well. 4 Even before I speak a word, O Lord, You know it all. 5 You have closed me in from behind and in front. And You have laid Your hand upon me. 6 All You know is too great for me. It is too much for me to understand.
13 For You made the parts inside me. You put me together inside my mother. 14 I will give thanks to You, for the greatness of the way I was made brings fear. Your works are great and my soul knows it very well. 15 My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret and put together with care in the deep part of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw me before I was put together. And all the days of my life were written in Your book before any of them came to be.
17 Your thoughts are of great worth to me, O God. How many there are! 18 If I could number them, there would be more than the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.
16 Then the Lord gave them special men to judge between what was right or wrong. These men saved them from those who robbed them. 17 But the people did not listen to those chosen to judge. The people were not faithful to the Lord and they worshiped other gods. They were quick to turn aside from the way their fathers had walked in obeying the Laws of the Lord. They did not do as their fathers had done. 18 When the Lord gave them special men to judge them, the Lord was with the judge. And He saved them from those who hated them. For the Lord showed them pity because of their pain when others made it hard for them and hurt them. 19 But when the judge died, they would turn again and act worse than their fathers. They would follow other gods and serve them and worship them. They would not give up their sinful acts or their strong wills. 20 So the anger of the Lord was against Israel. He said, “This nation has sinned against My agreement I made with their fathers. They have not listened to My voice. 21 I will stop driving away from them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. 22 I will use them to test Israel. I will see if Israel will keep the way of the Lord to walk in it like their fathers did, or not.” 23 So the Lord let those nations stay. He was not quick to drive them out. And He did not give them into the power of Joshua.
16 Paul got up. He raised his hand and said, “Jewish men and you who honor God, listen! 17 The God of the Jews chose our early fathers and made them a great people during the time they lived in the land of Egypt. With a strong hand He took them out from there. 18 For about forty years He took care of them in the desert. 19 He destroyed the people of seven nations in the land of Canaan. Then He divided the land and gave it to them as their own. 20 For about 450 years He let them have special leaders. They had these leaders until the time of Samuel.
21 “Then they wanted a king. God gave them Saul who was the son of Kish from the family group of Benjamin. He was king forty years. 22 When God took Saul as king from them, He made David to be their king. He said, ‘David, Jesse’s son, will please My heart. He will do all I want done.’
23 “From this man’s family, God gave to the Jews the One Who saves from the punishment of sin as He had promised. He is Jesus. 24 Before Jesus came, John had preached to all the Jews that they should be baptized because they were sorry for their sins and turned from them. 25 When John was near the end of his work, he asked, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the Christ. No, but He is coming later and I am not good enough to get down and help Him take off His shoes!’
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