Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

34 I will always give thanks to the LORD. His praise shall be in my mouth continually.

² My soul shall glory in the LORD. The humble shall hear it and be glad.

³ Praise the LORD with me; and let us magnify His Name together.

⁴ I sought the LORD, and He heard me. Indeed, He delivered me out of all my fear.

⁵ They shall look to Him and run; and their faces shall not be ashamed.

⁶ This poor man cried; and the LORD heard and saved him out of all his troubles.

⁷ The Angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them.

⁸ Taste and see how gracious the LORD is. Blessed is the man who trusts in Him.

¹⁹ Great are the troubles of the righteous. But the LORD delivers him out of them all.

²⁰ He keeps all His bones. Not one of them is broken.

²¹ Malice shall slay the wicked; and those who hate the righteous shall perish.

²² The LORD redeems the souls of His servants; and no one who trusts in Him shall perish. A Psalm of David.

¹² The same season, Berodach-Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he had heard that Hezekiah was sick.

¹³ And Hezekiah heard them and showed them his whole treasure house: the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious ointment, the entire house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house, and in all his realm, that Hezekiah did not show them.

¹⁴ Then Isaiah the Prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where have they come to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They have come from a far country, from Babylon.”

¹⁵ Then he said, “What have they seen in your house?” And Hezekiah answered, “They have seen everything that is in my house. There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.”

¹⁶ And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the Word of the LORD:

¹⁷ ‘Behold, the days come, that all that is in your house, and whatever your fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried into Babylon. Nothing shall be left,’ says the LORD,

¹⁸ ‘And they shall take away some of your sons who shall proceed out of you, which you shall beget, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”

¹⁹ Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The Word of the LORD which you have spoken is good.” For he said, “Is it not good if there is peace and truth in my days?”

7 For this Melchizedek - King of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he returned from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,

² and to whom Abraham also gave a tithe of all things - is by first interpretation “King of Righteousness”, and after that “King of Salem” (that is, “King of Peace”);

³ without father or mother or family, having neither beginning of days nor end of life. But he is likened to the Son of God and continues as a priest forever.

⁴ Now consider how great this man was to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tithe of the spoils.

⁵ For indeed those who are the children of Levi (who receive the office of the priesthood) have a Commandment to take tithes from the people according to the Law (that is, from their brothers), though they came out of the loins of Abraham.

⁶ But the one whose family is not counted among them received tithes from Abraham, and blessed him who had the promises.

⁷ And without any dispute, the less is blessed by the greater.

⁸ And here, men who die receive tithes. But there, he who lives (about Whom it is witnessed).

⁹ And truth be told, Levi (who receives tithes) also paid tithes to Abraham.

¹⁰ For he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.