Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 139
The All-Knowing, Ever-Present God
For the choir director. A psalm of David.
1 Lord, you have searched me and known me.(A)
2 You know when I sit down and when I stand up;
you understand my thoughts from far away.(B)
3 You observe my travels and my rest;
you are aware of all my ways.(C)
4 Before a word is on my tongue,
you know all about it, Lord.(D)
5 You have encircled me;
you have placed your hand on me.(E)
6 This wondrous knowledge is beyond me.
It is lofty; I am unable to reach it.(F)
13 For it was you who created my inward parts;[a]
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.(A)
14 I will praise you
because I have been remarkably and wondrously made.[b][c]
Your works are wondrous,
and I know this very well.(B)
15 My bones were not hidden from you
when I was made in secret,
when I was formed in the depths of the earth.(C)
16 Your eyes saw me when I was formless;
all my days were written in your book and planned
before a single one of them began.(D)
Samuel’s Birth and Dedication
19 The next morning Elkanah and Hannah got up early to worship before the Lord. Afterward, they returned home to Ramah.(A) Then Elkanah was intimate with his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her.(B) 20 After some time,[a] Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel,[b] because she said, “I requested him from the Lord.”
21 When Elkanah and all his household went up to make the annual sacrifice(C) and his vow offering to the Lord, 22 Hannah did not go and explained to her husband, “After the child is weaned, I’ll take him to appear in the Lord’s presence(D) and to stay there permanently.”(E)
23 Her husband, Elkanah, replied, “Do what you think is best,(F) and stay here until you’ve weaned him. May the Lord confirm your[c] word.”(G) So Hannah stayed there and nursed her son until she weaned him. 24 When she had weaned him, she took him with her to Shiloh, as well as a three-year-old bull,[d] half a bushel[e] of flour, and a clay jar of wine.(H) Though the boy was still young,[f] she took him to the Lord’s house at Shiloh.(I) 25 Then they slaughtered the bull and brought the boy to Eli.
26 “Please, my lord,” she said, “as surely as you live,(J) my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. 27 I prayed for this boy,(K) and since the Lord gave me what I asked him for,(L)
The Believer’s Triumph
31 What, then, are we to say about these things?(A) If God is for us, who is against us?(B) 32 He did not even spare his own Son(C) but gave him up for us all.(D) How will he not also with him grant us everything? 33 Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect?(E) God is the one who justifies.(F) 34 Who is the one who condemns?(G) Christ Jesus is the one who died,(H) but even more, has been raised;(I) he also is at the right hand of God(J) and intercedes for us.(K) 35 Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction(L) or distress or persecution(M) or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
Because of you
we are being put to death all day long;(N)
we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.[a](O)
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors(P) through him who loved us.(Q) 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life,(R) nor angels nor rulers,(S) nor things present nor things to come,(T) nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God(U) that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.(V)
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