Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
139 O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. 2 You know when I sit or stand. When far away you know my every thought. 3 You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment you know where I am. 4 You know what I am going to say before I even say it. 5 You both precede and follow me and place your hand of blessing on my head.
6 This is too glorious, too wonderful to believe!
13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit them together in my mother’s womb. 14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous—and how well I know it. 15 You were there while I was being formed in utter seclusion! 16 You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book!
17-18 How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly! I can’t even count how many times a day your thoughts turn toward me.[a] And when I waken in the morning, you are still thinking of me!
2 This was Hannah’s prayer:
“How I rejoice in the Lord!
How he has blessed me!
Now I have an answer for my enemies,
For the Lord has solved my problem.
How I rejoice!
2 No one is as holy as the Lord!
There is no other God,
Nor any Rock like our God.
3 Quit acting so proud and arrogant!
The Lord knows what you have done,
And he will judge your deeds.
4 Those who were mighty are mighty no more!
Those who were weak are now strong.
5 Those who were well are now starving;
Those who were starving are fed.
The barren woman now has seven children;
She with many children has no more!
6 The Lord kills,
The Lord gives life.
7 Some he causes to be poor
And others to be rich.
He cuts one down
And lifts another up.
8 He lifts the poor from the dust—
Yes, from a pile of ashes—
And treats them as princes
Sitting in the seats of honor.
For all the earth is the Lord’s
And he has set the world in order.
9 He will protect his godly ones,
But the wicked shall be silenced in darkness.
No one shall succeed by strength alone.
10 Those who fight against the Lord shall be broken;
He thunders against them from heaven.
He judges throughout the earth.
He gives mighty strength to his king,
And gives great glory to his anointed one.”
19
20 The crowd replied, “You’re out of your mind! Who’s trying to kill you?”
21-23 Jesus replied, “I worked on the Sabbath by healing a man, and you were surprised. But you work on the Sabbath, too, whenever you obey Moses’ law of circumcision (actually, however, this tradition of circumcision is older than the Mosaic law); for if the correct time for circumcising your children falls on the Sabbath, you go ahead and do it, as you should. So why should I be condemned for making a man completely well on the Sabbath? 24 Think this through and you will see that I am right.”
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.