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.

6 Now the ark of God was in the land of the Philistines seven months.

² And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying: What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? tell us how we are to send it back to its place? And they said:

³ If you send back the ark of the God of Israel, send it not away empty, but render unto him what you owe for sin, and then you shall be healed: and you shall know why his hand departeth not from you.

⁴ They answered: What is it we ought to render unto him for sin? and they answered:

⁵ According to the number of the provinces of the Philistines you shall make five golden emerods, and five golden mice: for the same plague hath been upon you all, and upon your lords. And you shall make the likeness of your emerods, and the likeness of the mice that have destroyed the land, and you shall give glory to the God of Israel: to see if he will take off his hand from you, and from your gods, and from your land.

⁶ Why do you harden your hearts, as Egypt and Pharao hardened their hearts? did not he, after he was struck, then let them go, and they departed?

⁷ Now therefore take and make a new cart: and two kine that have calved, on which there hath come no yoke, tie to the cart, and shut up their calves at home.

⁸ And you shall take the ark of the Lord, and lay it on the cart, and the vessels of gold, which you have paid him for sin, you shall put into a little box, at the side thereof: and send it away that it may go.

⁹ And you shall look: and if it go up by the way of his own coasts towards Bethsames, then he hath done us this great evil: but if not, we shall know that it is not his hand hath touched us, but it hath happened by chance.

¹⁰ They did therefore in this manner: and taking two kine, that had suckling calves, they yoked them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home.

¹¹ And they laid the ark of God upon the cart, and the little box that had in it the golden mice and the likeness of the emerods.

¹² And the kine took the straight way that leadeth to Bethsames, and they went along the way, lowing as they went: and turned not aside neither to the right hand nor to the left: and the lords of the Philistines followed them as far as the borders of Bethsames.

¹³ Now the Bethsamites were reaping wheat in the valley: and lifting up their eyes they saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it.

¹⁴ And the cart came into the field of Josue a Bethsamite, and stood there. And there was a great stone, and they cut in pieces the wood of the cart, and laid the kine upon it a holocaust to the Lord.

¹⁵ And the Levites took down the ark of God, and the little box that was at the side of it, wherein were the vessels of gold, and they put them upon the great stone. The men also of Bethsames offered holocausts and sacrificed victims that day to the Lord.

¹⁶ And the five princes of the Philistines saw, and they returned to Accaron the same day.

¹⁷ And these are the golden emerods, which the Philistines returned for sin to the Lord: For Azotus one, for Gaza one, for Ascalon one, for Geth one, for Accaron one:

¹⁸ And the golden mice according to the number of the cities of the Philistines, of the five provinces, from the fenced city to the village that was without wall, and to the great Abel (the stone) whereon they set down the ark of the Lord, which was till that day in the field of Josue the Bethsamite.

⁴ And when a very great multitude was gathered together, and hastened out of the cities unto him, he spoke by a similitude.

⁵ The sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.

⁶ And other some fell upon a rock: and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it had no moisture.

⁷ And other some fell among thorns, and the thorns growing up with it, choked it.

⁸ And other some fell upon good ground; and being sprung up, yielded fruit a hundredfold. Saying these things, he cried out: He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

⁹ And his disciples asked him what this parable might be.

¹⁰ To whom he said: To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to the rest in parables, that seeing they may not see, and hearing may not understand.

¹¹ Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.

¹² And they by the way side are they that hear; then the devil cometh, and taketh the word out of their heart, lest believing they should be saved.

¹³ Now they upon the rock, are they who when they hear, receive the word with joy: and these have no roots; for they believe for a while, and in time of temptation, they fall away.

¹⁴ And that which fell among thorns, are they who have heard, and going their way, are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and yield no fruit.

¹⁵ But that on the good ground, are they who in a good and perfect heart, hearing the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit in patience.