Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

5 Then all the tribes of Israel came to David, to Hebron, and said this: “Behold, we are your bones and your flesh.

² “And in time past, when Saul was our king, you led Israel in and out. And the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall feed my people, Israel, and you shall be a captain over Israel.’”

³ So, all the elders of Israel came to the king, to Hebron. And King David made a covenant with them in Hebron, before the LORD. And they anointed David king over Israel.

⁴ David was thirty years old when he began to reign. He reigned for forty years.

⁵ He reigned over Judah for seven years and six months in Hebron. And he reigned over all Israel and Judah for thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

⁹ So David dwelt in that fort and called it the City of David. And David built all around it, from Millo, inward. LORD God of Hosts was with him.

48 Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised in the City of our God, upon His Holy Mountain.

² Mount Zion (lying northward) is beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole Earth, the City of the Great King.

³ In the palaces thereof, God is known for a refuge.

⁴ For lo, the kings were gathered and went together.

⁵ When they saw it, they marveled. They were astonished and suddenly driven back.

⁶ Fear came upon them there, and sorrow, as upon a woman in childbirth,

⁷ as when You break the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.

⁸ As we have heard, so have we seen in the City of the LORD of Hosts, in the city of our God. God will establish it forever. Selah.

⁹ In the midst of Your Temple we wait for Your lovingkindness, O God.

¹⁰ O God, according to Your Name, so is Your praise to the world’s end. Your right hand is full of righteousness.

¹¹ Let Mount Zion rejoice, and the daughters of Judah be glad, because of Your judgments!

¹² March around Zion and encircle it. Count the towers thereof.

¹³ Mark well the wall thereof. Behold her towers, so that you may tell your posterity.

¹⁴ For this God is our God, forever and ever. He shall be our guide to the death. To him who excels: A Psalm committed to the sons of Korah.

² More than fourteen years ago I knew a man in Christ, (whether he was in the body, I cannot tell, or out of the body, I cannot tell; God knows.) who was taken up into the third heaven.

³ And I knew such a man (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell; God knows).

⁴ How that he was taken up into Paradise, and heard words which cannot be spoken, which are not possible for man to utter.

⁵ Of such a man I will boast. Of myself I will not boast, except that it be of my weakness.

⁶ For though I would desire to boast, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth. But I refrain, lest anyone should think me above that which he sees in me, or hears of me;

⁷ and lest I should be exalted out of measure through the abundance of revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, because I should not be exalted out of measure.

⁸ For this thing I implored the Lord three times, that it might depart from me.

⁹ And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you. For My power is made perfect through weakness.” Therefore, rather, I will very gladly boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

¹⁰ Therefore, I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in anguish for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

6 And He departed from there and came into His own country. And His disciples followed Him.

² And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many who heard Him were astonished, and said, “From where has this Man received these things? And what wisdom is this that is given to Him, that even such great works are done by His hands?

³ “Is not this that carpenter, Mary’s son, the brother of James and Joses, and of Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they were offended by Him.

⁴ And Jesus said to them, “A Prophet is not without honor, except in his own country and among his own kindred and in his own house.”

⁵ And He could do no great works there, except to lay His hands upon a few sick folk and heal them.

⁶ And He marveled at their unbelief, and went around the towns on every side, teaching.

⁷ And He called to Him the twelve and began to send them forth two by two and gave them power over unclean spirits.

⁸ And He commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey except a staff only, neither bag nor bread nor money in their belts.

⁹ But that they should wear sandals and that they should not put on two coats.

¹⁰ And He said to them, “Wherever you shall enter into a house, stay there till you depart that place.

¹¹ “And whoever shall neither receive you nor hear you, shake off the dust that is under your feet when you depart from there, for a witness to them. Truly I say to you, it shall be easier for Sodom or Gomorrah at the Day of Judgment than for that city.”

¹² And they went out and preached repentance.

¹³ And they cast out many demons. And they anointed many who were sick with oil, and healed them.