Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
ג GIMEL
17 (A)Deal bountifully with Your servant,
That I may live and keep Your word.
18 Open my eyes, that I may see
Wondrous things from Your law.
19 (B)I am a stranger in the earth;
Do not hide Your commandments from me.
20 (C)My soul [a]breaks with longing
For Your judgments at all times.
21 You rebuke the proud—the cursed,
Who stray from Your commandments.
22 (D)Remove from me reproach and contempt,
For I have kept Your testimonies.
23 Princes also sit and speak against me,
But Your servant meditates on Your statutes.
24 Your testimonies also are my delight
And my counselors.
ד DALETH
25 (E)My soul clings to the dust;
(F)Revive me according to Your word.
26 I have declared my ways, and You answered me;
(G)Teach me Your statutes.
27 Make me understand the way of Your precepts;
So (H)shall I meditate on Your wonderful works.
28 (I)My soul [b]melts from [c]heaviness;
Strengthen me according to Your word.
29 Remove from me the way of lying,
And grant me Your law graciously.
30 I have chosen the way of truth;
Your judgments I have laid before me.
31 I cling to Your testimonies;
O Lord, do not put me to shame!
32 I will run the course of Your commandments,
For You shall (J)enlarge my heart.
Vision of the Locusts
7 Thus the Lord God showed me: Behold, He formed locust swarms at the [a]beginning of the late crop; indeed it was the late crop after the king’s mowings. 2 And so it was, when they had finished eating the grass of the land, that I said:
“O Lord God, forgive, I pray!
(A)Oh,[b] that Jacob may stand,
For he is small!”
3 So (B)the Lord relented concerning this.
“It shall not be,” said the Lord.
Vision of the Fire
4 Thus the Lord God showed me: Behold, the Lord God called [c]for conflict by fire, and it consumed the great deep and devoured the [d]territory. 5 Then I said:
“O Lord God, cease, I pray!
(C)Oh, that Jacob may stand,
For he is small!”
6 So the Lord relented concerning this.
“This also shall not be,” said the Lord God.
27 (A)To them God willed to make known what are (B)the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: [a]which is (C)Christ in you, (D)the hope of glory. 28 Him we preach, (E)warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, (F)that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. 29 To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me (G)mightily.
Not Philosophy but Christ
2 For I want you to know what a great (H)conflict[b] I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, [c]both of the Father and of Christ, 3 (I)in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4 Now this I say (J)lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. 5 For (K)though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing [d]to see (L)your good order and the (M)steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
6 (N)As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 (O)rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding [e]in it with thanksgiving.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.