Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Psalm of David.

¹ ¶ I will sing of mercy and judgment; unto thee, O LORD, will I sing.

² When thou shalt come unto me, I will walk in the way of perfection and understand. I will walk in the midst of my house in the perfection of my heart.

³ I will set nothing of Belial before my eyes: I hate the work of those that betray; it shall not cleave to me.

⁴ A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not know a wicked person.

⁵ Whosoever secretly slanders his neighbour, I will cut off; he that has a high look and a proud heart I will not suffer.

⁶ My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he that walks in the way of perfection, he shall serve me.

⁷ He that works deceit shall not dwell within my house; he that tells lies shall not tarry in my sight.

⁸ I will early destroy all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off all the workers of iniquity from the city of the LORD.

¹⁶ ¶ In that season two women, that were harlots, came unto the king and stood before him.

¹⁷ And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house, and I was delivered of a child with her in the house.

¹⁸ And it came to pass the third day after I was delivered that this woman was delivered also and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, except the two of us in the house.

¹⁹ And this woman’s child died in the night because she lay on top of him.

²⁰ And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me while thy handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom and laid her dead child in my bosom.

²¹ And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead; but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I had given birth to.

²² And the other woman said, No, but my son is alive, and thy son is dead. And this one said, No, but thy son is dead, and my son is alive. Thus they spoke before the king.

²³ Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that is alive, and thy son is dead. And the other saith, No; but thy son is dead, and my son is alive.

²⁴ And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king.

²⁵ And the king said, Divide the living child in two and give half to the one and half to the other.

²⁶ Then the woman, of whom the living child was, spoke unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.

²⁷ Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it, for she is its mother.

²⁸ And all Israel heard of that judgment which the king had judged, and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to judge.

6 ¶ And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, that their widows were neglected in the daily ministry.

² Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, It is not right that we should leave the word of God and serve tables;

³ therefore, brethren, seek out among you seven men of whom you bear witness, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.

⁴ And we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.

⁵ And the saying pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip and Prochorus and Nicanor and Timon and Parmenas and Nicolas, a proselyte of Antioch:

⁶ these they set before the apostles, and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.

⁷ And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly, and also a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.