Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
7 (A)Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice,
And be gracious to me and (B)answer me.
8 When You said, “(C)Seek My face,” my heart said to You,
“Your face, O Lord, (D)I shall seek.”
9 (E)Do not hide Your face from me,
Do not turn Your servant away in (F)anger;
You have been (G)my help;
(H)Do not abandon me nor (I)forsake me,
O God of my salvation!
10 [a]For my father and (J)my mother have forsaken me,
But (K)the Lord will take me up.
11 (L)Teach me Your way, O Lord,
And lead me in a (M)level path
Because of [b]my foes.
12 Do not deliver me over to the [c](N)desire of my adversaries,
For (O)false witnesses have risen against me,
And such as (P)breathe out violence.
13 [d]I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the (Q)goodness of the Lord
In the (R)land of the living.
14 (S)Wait for the Lord;
Be (T)strong and let your heart take courage;
Yes, wait for the Lord.
Gideon Is Visited
11 Then (A)the angel of the Lord came and sat under the [a]oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the (B)Abiezrite as his son (C)Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites. 12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior.” 13 Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But (D)now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 The Lord [b]looked at him and said, “(E)Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” 15 (F)He said to Him, “O Lord, [c]how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in (G)Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” 16 (H)But the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall [d]defeat Midian as one man.” 17 So [e]Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me (I)a sign that it is You who speak with me. 18 Please do not depart from here, until I come back to You, and bring out my offering and lay it before You.” And He said, “I will remain until you return.”
19 Then Gideon went in and (J)prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an [f]ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket [g]and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to him under the [h]oak and presented them. 20 The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and (K)fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord [i]vanished from his sight. 22 (L)When Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord, [j]he said, “Alas, O Lord [k]God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” 23 The Lord said to him, “Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die.” 24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and named it [l]The Lord is Peace. To this day it is still (M)in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
6 (A)Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things (B)the wrath of God comes upon (C)the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be (D)partakers with them; 8 for (E)you were formerly (F)darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as (G)children of Light 9 (for (H)the fruit of the Light consists in all (I)goodness and righteousness and truth), 10 [a](J)trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 (K)Do not participate in the unfruitful (L)deeds of (M)darkness, but instead even [b](N)expose them; 12 for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things become visible (O)when they are [c]exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. 14 For this reason [d]it says,
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