Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Jehovah a provider and deliverer.

A Psalm of David; ^[a]when he ^[b]changed his behavior before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.

1 The ^[a]words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.

Now it came to pass in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the ^[b]palace, ² that Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men out of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, that were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. ³ And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.

⁴ And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days; and I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven, ⁵ and said, I beseech thee, O Jehovah, the God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and lovingkindness with them that love him and keep his commandments: ⁶ Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee at this time, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, while I confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee. Yea, I and my father’s house have sinned: ⁷ we have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses. ⁸ Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye trespass, I will scatter you abroad among the peoples: ⁹ but if ye return unto me, and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts were in the uttermost part of the heavens, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen, to cause my name to dwell there. ¹⁰ Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand. ¹¹ O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who delight to fear thy name; and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.

Now I was cupbearer to the king.

¹¹ Now if there was perfection through the Levitical priesthood (for under it hath the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should arise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be reckoned after the order of Aaron? ¹² For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. ¹³ For he of whom these things are said ^[a]belongeth to another tribe, from which no man hath given attendance at the altar. ¹⁴ For it is evident that our Lord hath sprung out of Judah; as to which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priests. ¹⁵ And what we say is yet more abundantly evident, if after the likeness of Melchizedek there ariseth another priest, ¹⁶ who hath been made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an ^[b]endless life: ¹⁷ for it is witnessed of him,

¹⁸ For there is a disannulling of a foregoing commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness ¹⁹ (for the law made nothing perfect), and a bringing in thereupon of a better hope, through which we draw nigh unto God. ²⁰ And inasmuch as it is not without the taking of an oath ²¹ (for they indeed have been made priests without an oath; but he with an oath ^[d]by him that saith ^[e]of him,

²² by so much also hath Jesus become the surety of a better covenant.