Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 21
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David.
1 The king will rejoice in Your strength, O Lord,
and in Your salvation how greatly will he rejoice!
2 You have given him his heart’s desire,
and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah
3 For You meet him with the blessings of goodness;
You set a crown of pure gold on his head.
4 He asked life of You, and You gave it him,
length of days forever and ever.
5 His glory is great in Your salvation;
honor and majesty You set on him.
6 For You place blessings on him forever;
You make him rejoice with gladness with Your presence.
7 For the king trusts in the Lord,
and by the lovingkindness of the Most High
he will not be moved.
8 Your hand will find out all Your enemies;
Your right hand will find out those who hate You.
9 You will make them as a fiery oven
in the time of Your appearance;
the Lord will swallow them up in His wrath,
and fire will devour them.
10 You will destroy their offspring from the earth,
and their descendants from among the children of men.
11 For they intended evil against You;
they devised evil thoughts they will not be able to accomplish.
12 For You will make them turn their back,
when You aim with Your bowstrings against their face.
13 Be exalted, Lord, by Your strength;
may we sing and make music to Your might.
14 Do not fear, you worm Jacob,
and you men of Israel.
I will help you, says the Lord
and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
15 See, I will make you a new sharp threshing instrument
with double edges;
you shall thresh the mountains, and beat them small,
and shall make the hills as chaff.
16 You shall fan them, and the wind shall carry them away,
and the whirlwind shall scatter them;
and you shall rejoice in the Lord,
and shall glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17 When the poor and needy seek water,
and there is none,
and their tongues fail for thirst,
I, the Lord, will hear them,
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
18 I will open rivers in high places,
and fountains in the midst of the valleys;
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
and the dry land springs of water.
19 I will plant in the wilderness
the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive tree;
I will set in the desert
the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together,
20 that they may see, and know,
and consider, and understand together,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
and the Holy One of Israel has created it.
Paul’s Missionary Commission
14 Now I myself am persuaded concerning you, my brothers, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and also able to instruct one another. 15 Nevertheless, brothers, I have written even more boldly to you on some points, to remind you, because of the grace that is given to me from God, 16 that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
17 In Christ Jesus therefore I have reason to boast in my service to God. 18 For I will not dare to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed, 19 by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and as far around as Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. 20 So I have strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, so that I should not build on another man’s foundation. 21 But as it is written:
“To whom He was not announced, they shall see;
and those who have not heard shall understand.”[a]
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.