Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God Knows Everything
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
139 Lord, you have examined me
and know all about me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I get up.
You know my thoughts before I think them.
3 You know where I go and where I lie down.
You know everything I do.
4 Lord, even before I say a word,
you already know it.
5 You are all around me—in front and in back—
and have put your hand on me.
6 Your knowledge is amazing to me;
it is more than I can understand.
13 You made my whole being;
you formed me in my mother’s body.
14 I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way.
What you have done is wonderful.
I know this very well.
15 You saw my bones being formed
as I took shape in my mother’s body.
When I was put together there,
16 you saw my body as it was formed.
All the days planned for me
were written in your book
before I was one day old.
17 God, your thoughts are precious to me.
They are so many!
18 If I could count them,
they would be more than all the grains of sand.
When I wake up,
I am still with you.
God Chooses Judges
16 Then the Lord chose leaders called judges,[a] who saved the Israelites from the robbers. 17 But the Israelites did not listen to their judges. They were not faithful to God but worshiped other gods instead. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord’s commands, but they quickly turned away and did not obey. 18 When their enemies hurt them, the Israelites cried for help. So the Lord felt sorry for them and sent judges to save them from their enemies. The Lord was with those judges all their lives. 19 But when the judges died, the Israelites again sinned and worshiped other gods. They became worse than their ancestors. The Israelites were very stubborn and refused to change their evil ways.
20 So the Lord became angry with the Israelites. He said, “These people have broken the agreement I made with their ancestors. They have not listened to me. 21 I will no longer defeat the nations who were left when Joshua died. 22 I will use them to test Israel, to see if Israel will keep the Lord’s commands as their ancestors did.” 23 In the past the Lord had permitted those nations to stay in the land. He did not quickly force them out or help Joshua’s army defeat them.
16 Paul stood up, raised his hand, and said, “You Israelites and you who worship God, please listen! 17 The God of the Israelites chose our ancestors. He made the people great during the time they lived in Egypt, and he brought them out of that country with great power. 18 And he was patient with them[a] for forty years in the desert. 19 God destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan and gave the land to his people. 20 All this happened in about four hundred fifty years.
“After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. 21 Then the people asked for a king, so God gave them Saul son of Kish. Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin and was king for forty years. 22 After God took him away, God made David their king. God said about him: ‘I have found in David son of Jesse the kind of man I want. He will do all I want him to do.’ 23 So God has brought Jesus, one of David’s descendants, to Israel to be its Savior, as he promised. 24 Before Jesus came, John[b] preached to all the people of Israel about a baptism of changed hearts and lives. 25 When he was finishing his work, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the Christ. He is coming later, and I am not worthy to untie his sandals.’
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.