Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Thanksgiving for the Lord’s Saving Goodness.
118 O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
For His lovingkindness endures forever.
2
Oh let Israel say,
“His lovingkindness endures forever.”
19
Open to me the [temple] gates of righteousness;
I shall enter through them, I shall give thanks to the Lord.
20
This is the gate of the Lord;
The righteous will enter through it.(A)
21
I will give thanks to You, for You have heard and answered me;
And You have become my salvation [my Rescuer, my Savior].
22
The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the [a]chief corner stone.
23
This is from the Lord and is His doing;
It is marvelous in our eyes.(B)
24
This [day in which God has saved me] is the day which the Lord has made;
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
25
O Lord, save now, we beseech You;
O Lord, we beseech You, send now prosperity and give us success!
26
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord;
We have blessed you from the house of the Lord [you who come into His sanctuary under His guardianship].(C)
27
The Lord is God, and He has given us light [illuminating us with His grace and freedom and joy].
Bind the festival sacrifices with [b]cords to the horns of the altar.
28
You are my God, and I give thanks to You;
[You are] my God, I extol You.
29
O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
For His lovingkindness endures forever.
The Feast of Passover
16 “Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 You shall sacrifice the Passover [lamb] to the Lord your God from the flock or the herd, in the place where the Lord chooses to [a]establish His Name (Presence). 3 You shall not eat [b]leavened bread with it; instead, for seven days you shall eat the Passover with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction (for you left the land of Egypt in haste); [do this] so that all the days of your life you may remember [thoughtfully] the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. 4 For seven days no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory, and none of the meat which you sacrificed the evening of the first day shall remain overnight until morning. 5 You are not allowed to sacrifice the Passover [lamb] in any of your cities which the Lord your God is giving you; 6 but at the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His Name (Presence), you shall sacrifice the Passover [lamb] in the evening at sunset, at the time that you came out of Egypt. 7 You shall cook and eat it in the place which the Lord your God chooses. In the morning you are to return to your tents. 8 For six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a celebration to the Lord your God; so you shall do no work [on that day].
Be Like Christ
2 Therefore if there is any encouragement and comfort in Christ [as there certainly is in abundance], if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship [that we share] in the Spirit, if [there is] any [great depth of] affection and compassion, 2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, having the same [a]love [toward one another], knit together in spirit, intent on one purpose [and living a life that reflects your faith and spreads the gospel—the good news regarding salvation through faith in Christ]. 3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit [through factional motives, or strife], but with [an attitude of] humility [being neither arrogant nor self-righteous], regard others as more important than yourselves. 4 Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this same attitude in yourselves which was in Christ Jesus [look to Him as your example in selfless humility], 6 who, although He existed in the form and unchanging essence of God [as One with Him, possessing the fullness of all the divine attributes—the entire nature of deity], did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped or asserted [as if He did not already possess it, or was afraid of losing it]; 7 but emptied Himself [without renouncing or diminishing His deity, but only temporarily giving up the outward expression of divine equality and His rightful dignity] by assuming the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men [He became completely human but was without sin, being fully God and fully man]. 8 After He was found in [terms of His] outward appearance as a man [for a divinely-appointed time], He humbled Himself [still further] by becoming obedient [to the Father] to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also [because He obeyed and so completely humbled Himself], God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus [b]every knee shall bow [in submission], of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,(A) 11 and that every tongue will confess and openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord (sovereign God), to the glory of God the Father.
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