Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God’s Perfect Knowledge of Man
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
139 O Lord, (A)You have searched me and known me.
2 (B)You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You (C)understand my thought afar off.
3 (D)You [a]comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, (E)You know it altogether.
5 You have [b]hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6 (F)Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.
13 For You formed my inward parts;
You [a]covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for [b]I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
15 (A)My [c]frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
17 (B)How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.
Samuel Is Born and Dedicated
19 Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord, and returned and came to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah (A)knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord (B)remembered her. 20 So it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son, and called his name [a]Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked for him from the Lord.”
21 Now the man Elkanah and all his house (C)went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and his vow. 22 But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “Not until the child is weaned; then I will (D)take him, that he may appear before the Lord and (E)remain there (F)forever.”
23 So (G)Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems best to you; wait until you have weaned him. Only let the Lord [b]establish [c]His word.” Then the woman stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him.
24 Now when she had weaned him, she (H)took him up with her, with [d]three bulls, one ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and brought him to (I)the house of the Lord in Shiloh. And the child was young. 25 Then they slaughtered a bull, and (J)brought the child to Eli. 26 And she said, “O my lord! (K)As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to the Lord. 27 (L)For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him.
God’s Everlasting Love
31 What then shall we say to these things? (A)If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 (B)He who did not spare His own Son, but (C)delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? (D)It is God who justifies. 34 (E)Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, (F)who is even at the right hand of God, (G)who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written:
(H)“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
37 (I)Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor (J)principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.