Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The Reign of the Righteous King.

A Psalm of Solomon.

^19 [a]O people in Zion, ^(A)inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will ^(B)weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will ^(C)answer you. ²⁰ Although the Lord has given you ^(D)bread of privation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher will no longer ^(E)hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher. ²¹ Your ears will hear a word behind you, “^[b]This is the ^(F)way, walk in it,” whenever you ^(G)turn to the right or to the left. ²² And you will defile your graven ^(H)images overlaid with silver, and your molten ^(I)images plated with gold. You will scatter them as an impure thing, and say to ^[c]them, “^(J)Be gone!”

²³ Then He will ^(K)give you rain for ^[d]the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be ^[e]rich and ^[f]plenteous; on that day ^(L)your livestock will graze in a roomy pasture. ²⁴ Also the oxen and the donkeys which work the ground will eat salted fodder, which ^[g]has been ^(M)winnowed with shovel and fork. ²⁵ On every lofty mountain and on ^(N)every high hill there will be ^[h]streams running with water on the day of the great ^(O)slaughter, when the towers fall. ^26 (P)The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day ^(Q)the Lord binds up the ^(R)fracture of His people and ^(S)heals the bruise ^[i]He has inflicted.

¹⁶ Paul stood up, and ^(A)motioning with his hand said,

“Men of Israel, and ^(B)you who fear God, listen: ¹⁷ The God of this people Israel ^(C)chose our fathers and ^[a](D)made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm ^(E)He led them out from it. ¹⁸ For ^(F)a period of about forty years ^(G)He put up with them in the wilderness. ^19 (H)When He had destroyed ^(I)seven nations in the land of Canaan, He ^(J)distributed their land as an inheritance—all of which took ^(K)about four hundred and fifty years. ²⁰ After these things He ^(L)gave them judges until ^(M)Samuel the prophet. ²¹ Then they ^(N)asked for a king, and God gave them ^(O)Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. ²² After He had ^(P)removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘^(Q)I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My ^[b]will.’ ^23 (R)From the descendants of this man, ^(S)according to promise, God has brought to Israel ^(T)a Savior, Jesus, ²⁴ after ^(U)John had proclaimed before ^[c]His coming a ^(V)baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. ²⁵ And while John ^(W)was completing his course, ^(X)he kept saying, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’