Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

138 Lord, thou hast proved me, and known me:

² Thou hast know my sitting down, and my rising up.

³ Thou hast understood my thoughts afar off: my path and my line thou hast searched out.

⁴ And thou hast foreseen all my ways: for there is no speech in my tongue.

⁵ Behold, O Lord, thou hast known all things, the last and those of old: thou hast formed me, and hast laid thy hand upon me.

⁶ Thy knowledge is become wonderful to me: it is high, and I cannot reach to it.

⁷ Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy face?

⁸ If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I descend into hell, thou art present.

⁹ If I take my wings early in the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea:

¹⁰ Even there also shall thy hand lead me: and thy right hand shall hold me.

¹¹ And I said: Perhaps darkness shall cover me: and night shall be my light in my pleasures.

¹² But darkness shall not be dark to thee, and night shall be light as day: the darkness thereof, and the light thereof are alike to thee.

¹³ For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast protected me from my mother's womb.

¹⁴ I will praise thee, for thou art fearfully magnified: wonderful are thy works, and my soul knoweth right well.

¹⁵ My bone is not hidden from thee, which thou hast made in secret: and my substance in the lower parts of the earth.

¹⁶ Thy eyes did see my imperfect being, and in thy book all shall be written: days shall be formed, and no one in them.

¹⁷ But to me thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly honourable: their principality is exceedingly strengthened.

¹⁸ I will number them, and they shall be multiplied above the sand: I rose up and am still with thee.

¹⁹ If thou wilt kill the wicked, O God: ye men of blood, depart from me:

²⁰ Because you say in thought: They shall receive thy cities in vain.

²¹ Have I not hated them, O Lord, that hated thee: and pine away because of thy enemies?

²² I have hated them with a perfect hatred: and they are become enemies to me.

²³ Prove me, O God, and know my heart: examine me, and know my paths.

²⁴ And see if there be in me the way of iniquity: and lead me in the eternal way.

5 And the Philistines took the ark of God, and carried it from the Stone of help into Azotus.

² And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the temple of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.

³ And when the Azotians arose early the next day, behold Dagon lay upon his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord: and they took Dagon, and set him again in his place.

⁴ And the next day again, when they rose in the morning, they found Dagon lying upon his face on the earth before the ark of the Lord: and the head of Dagon, and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold:

⁵ And only the stump of Dagon remained in its place. For this cause neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that go into the temple tread on the threshold of Dagon in Azotus unto this day.

⁶ And the hand of the Lord was heavy upon the Azotians, and he destroyed them, and afflicted Azotus and the coasts thereof with emerods. And in the villages and fields in the midst of that country, there came forth a multitude of mice, and there was the confusion of a great mortality in the city.

⁷ And the men of Azotus seeing this kind of plague, said: The ark of the God of Israel shall not stay with us: for his hand is heavy upon us, and upon Dagon our god.

⁸ And sending, they gathered together all the lords of the Philistines to them, and said: What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And the Gethrites answered: Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about.

⁹ And while they were carrying it about, the band of the Lord came upon every city with an exceeding great slaughter: and he smote the men of every city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts. And the Gethrites consulted together, and made themselves seats of skins.

¹⁰ Therefore they sent the ark of God into Accaron. And when the ark of God was come into Accaron, the Accaronites cried out, saying: They have brought the ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and our people.

¹¹ They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines: and they said: Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return into its own place, and not kill us and our people.

¹² For there was the fear of death in every city, and the hand of God was exceeding heavy. The men also that did not die, were afflicted with the emerods: and the cry of every city went up to heaven.

5 For we know, if our earthly house of this habitation be dissolved, that we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in heaven.

² For in this also we groan, desiring to be clothed upon with our habitation that is from heaven.

³ Yet so that we be found clothed, not naked.

⁴ For we also, who are in this tabernacle, do groan, being burthened; because we would not be unclothed, but clothed upon, that that which is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

⁵ Now he that maketh us for this very thing, is God, who hath given us the pledge of the Spirit.