Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God’s Omnipresence and Omniscience.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
139 O Lord, You have (A)searched me and known me.
2 You (B)know [a]when I sit down and [b]when I rise up;
You (C)understand my thought from afar.
3 You [c](D)scrutinize my [d]path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
4 [e]Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O Lord, You (E)know it all.
5 You have (F)enclosed me behind and before,
And (G)laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such (H)knowledge is (I)too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot attain to it.
13 For You (A)formed my [a]inward parts;
You (B)wove me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will give thanks to You, for [b]I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
(C)Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
15 My [c](D)frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the (E)depths of the earth;
16 Your (F)eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in (G)Your book were all written
The (H)days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.
10 (A)Woe to me, my mother, that you have borne me
As a (B)man of strife and a man of contention to all the land!
I have not (C)lent, nor have men lent money to me,
Yet everyone curses me.
11 The Lord said, “Surely I will (D)set you free for purposes of good;
Surely I will cause the (E)enemy to make supplication to you
In a time of disaster and a time of distress.
12 “Can anyone smash iron,
(F)Iron from the north, or bronze?
13 “Your (G)wealth and your treasures
I will give for booty (H)without cost,
Even for all your sins
And within all your borders.
14 “Then I will cause your enemies to bring [a]it
Into a (I)land you do not know;
For a (J)fire has been kindled in My anger,
It will burn upon you.”
Jeremiah’s Prayer and God’s Answer
15 (K)You who know, O Lord,
Remember me, take notice of me,
And (L)take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away;
Know that (M)for Your sake I endure reproach.
16 Your words were found and I (N)ate them,
And Your (O)words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart;
For I have been (P)called by Your name,
O Lord God of hosts.
17 I (Q)did not sit in the circle of merrymakers,
Nor did I exult.
Because of Your hand upon me I sat (R)alone,
For You (S)filled me with indignation.
18 Why has my pain been perpetual
And my (T)wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Will You indeed be to me (U)like a deceptive stream
With water that is unreliable?
19 Therefore, thus says the Lord,
“(V)If you return, then I will restore you—
(W)Before Me you will stand;
And (X)if you extract the precious from the worthless,
You will become [b]My spokesman.
They for their part may turn to you,
But as for you, you must not turn to them.
20 “Then I will (Y)make you to this people
A fortified wall of bronze;
And though they fight against you,
They will not prevail over you;
For (Z)I am with you to save you
And deliver you,” declares the Lord.
21 “So I will (AA)deliver you from the hand of the wicked,
And I will (AB)redeem you from the [c]grasp of the violent.”
25 But I thought it necessary to send to you (A)Epaphroditus, my brother and (B)fellow worker and (C)fellow soldier, who is also your [a](D)messenger and (E)minister to my need; 26 because he was longing [b]for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. 27 For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow. 28 Therefore I have sent him all the more eagerly so that when you see him again you may rejoice and I may be less concerned about you. 29 (F)Receive him then in the Lord with all joy, and (G)hold men like him in high regard; 30 because he came close to death [c](H)for the work of Christ, risking his life to (I)complete [d]what was deficient in your service to me.
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