Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 139[a]
The All-knowing and Ever-present God
1 For the leader. A psalm of David.
I
Lord, you have probed me, you know me:
2 you know when I sit and stand;[b](A)
you understand my thoughts from afar.
3 You sift through my travels and my rest;
with all my ways you are familiar.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
Lord, you know it all.
5 Behind and before you encircle me
and rest your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
far too lofty for me to reach.(B)
II
13 You formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother’s womb.(A)
14 I praise you, because I am wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works!
My very self you know.
15 My bones are not hidden from you,
When I was being made in secret,
fashioned in the depths of the earth.[a]
16 Your eyes saw me unformed;
in your book all are written down;(B)
my days were shaped, before one came to be.
III
17 How precious to me are your designs, O God;
how vast the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the sands;
when I complete them, still you are with me.(C)
Return from Exile. 14 Therefore, days are coming—oracle of the Lord—when it will no longer be said, “As the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites out of Egypt”;(A) 15 but rather, “As the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites out of the land of the north and out of all the countries to which he had banished them.” I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors.(B)
Double Punishment. 16 Look!—oracle of the Lord—I will send many fishermen to catch them. After that, I will send many hunters to hunt them out from every mountain and hill and rocky crevice.(C) 17 For my eyes are upon all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor does their guilt escape my sight.(D) 18 I will at once repay them double for their crime and their sin because they profaned my land with the corpses of their detestable idols, and filled my heritage with their abominations.(E)
Conversion of the Nations
19 Lord, my strength, my fortress,
my refuge in the day of distress!
To you nations will come
from the ends of the earth, and say,
“Our ancestors inherited mere frauds,
empty, worthless.”(F)
20 Can human beings make for themselves gods?
But these are not gods at all!(G)
21 Therefore, I will indeed give them knowledge;
this time I will make them acknowledge
My strength and my power:
they shall know that my name is Lord.(H)
Chapter 17
The Sin of Judah and Its Punishment
1 The sin of Judah is written
with an iron stylus,
Engraved with a diamond point
upon the tablets of their hearts,(I)
And the horns of their altars, 2 when their children remember their altars and their asherahs, beside the green trees, on the high hills, 3 the peaks in the country.
Your wealth and all your treasures
I give as plunder,
As payment for all your sins
throughout your territory,
4 You will relinquish your hold on your heritage
which I have given you.
I will enslave you to your enemies
in a land you do not know:
For a fire has broken out from my anger,
burning forever.(J)
V. Conclusion[a]
Tychicus and Onesimus. 7 Tychicus,[b] my beloved brother, trustworthy minister, and fellow slave in the Lord, will tell you all the news of me.(A) 8 I am sending him to you for this very purpose, so that you may know about us and that he may encourage your hearts, 9 together with Onesimus, a trustworthy and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you about everything here.(B)
From Paul’s Co-Workers. 10 Aristarchus,[c] my fellow prisoner, sends you greetings, as does Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions; if he comes to you, receive him),(C) 11 and Jesus,[d] who is called Justus, who are of the circumcision; these alone are my co-workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. 12 Epaphras[e] sends you greetings; he is one of you, a slave of Christ [Jesus], always striving for you in his prayers so that you may be perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.(D) 13 For I can testify that he works very hard for you and for those in Laodicea[f] and those in Hierapolis. 14 Luke[g] the beloved physician sends greetings, as does Demas.(E)
A Message for the Laodiceans. 15 Give greetings to the brothers in Laodicea and to Nympha and to the church in her house.[h] 16 And when this letter is read before you, have it read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and you yourselves read the one from Laodicea.[i] 17 And tell Archippus, “See that you fulfill the ministry[j] that you received in the Lord.”(F)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.