Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
2 “Behold, God, my salvation! I will trust and will not fear! For the LORD God is my strength and song. He has also become my salvation!”
3 Therefore, with joy shall you draw waters out of the wells of salvation.
4 And you shall say on that day, “Praise the LORD! Call upon His Name! Declare His works among the people! Make mention of them, for His Name is exalted!
5 “Sing to the LORD! For He has done excellent things! This is known in all the world!
6 “Cry out, and shout, O inhabitant of Zion! For great is the Holy One of Israel, in the midst of you.”
4 “Hear this, O you who swallow up the poor and may make the needy of the land fail,
5 saying, ‘When will the new month be gone, that we may sell corn; and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat and make the ephah small and the shekel great and falsify the weights by deceit?
6 ‘That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat.’”
7 The LORD has sworn by the excellency of Jacob, “Surely, I will never forget any of their works.
8 “Shall not the land tremble for this; and everyone mourn who dwells therein? And it shall rise up, wholly as a flood, and it shall be cast out and drowned as by the flood of Egypt.
9 “And on that day,” says the LORD God, “I will even cause the Sun to go down at noon. I will darken the Earth in the clear day.
10 “And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation. And I will bring sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head. And I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
11 “Behold, the days come,” says the LORD God, “that I will send a famine in the land; not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the Word of the LORD.
12 “And they shall wander from sea to sea. And from the north even to the east shall they run to and fro, to seek the Word of the LORD, and shall not find it.
9 Now, as far as the ministry to the Saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you.
2 For I know your readiness of mind, of which I boast to the Macedonians myself, saying that Achaia was prepared a year ago. And your zeal has incited many.
3 Now, I have sent the brothers (lest our boasting over you should be in vain in this matter), that you (as I have said) be ready.
4 Or else perhaps the Macedonians might come with me and find you unprepared, so that we (and not you) should be ashamed by my constant boasting.
5 Therefore, I thought it necessary to exhort the brothers to come to you beforehand, and to finish your previously-promised blessing, that it might be ready and be received as a blessing (not with greed).
6 But remember this: whoever sows sparingly, shall also reap sparingly. And whoever sows liberally, shall also reap liberally.
7 As everyone purposes in his heart, so let him give (not grudgingly or of necessity). For God loves a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to make all grace to abound toward you. So that you always - having all sufficiency in all things - may abound in every good work,
9 As it is written, “He has scattered abroad and has given to the poor. His benevolence remains forever.”
10 Also, He Who supplies seed to the sower will likewise provide bread for food and multiply your seed and increase the fruits of your righteousness,
11 that you may be enriched in every way unto all simplicity, which causes thanksgiving to God through us.
12 For the ministry of this service not only supplies the necessities of the Saints, but also abundantly causes many to give thanks to God,
13 who, by the trials of this ministry, praise God for your voluntary submission to the Gospel of Christ and for your liberal sharing with them and to all.
14 And in their prayer for you, they long after you greatly, for the abundant grace of God in you.
15 Therefore, thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.
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