Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

58 ¶ Cry aloud, do not hold back; lift up thy voice like a shofar and preach to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sin.

² That they seek me daily and want to know my ways, as people that do righteousness and have not forsaken the rights of their God: they ask me of the rights of righteousness and desire to approach God.

³ ¶ Why have we fasted, they say, and thou dost not see? why have we afflicted our soul, and thou dost take no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find your own pleasure and exact your own estates.

⁴ Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day to make your voice to be heard on high.

⁵ Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast and an acceptable day to the LORD?

⁶ Is not rather the fast that I have chosen, to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the ties of oppression, to release into freedom those who are broken, and that ye break every yoke?

⁷ Is it not to share thy bread with the hungry and that thou bring the poor that are cast out into thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou not hide thyself from thy brother?

⁸ ¶ Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall gather thee.

⁹ Then shalt thou call, and thou shalt hear the LORD; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;

⁹ Then shalt thou call, and thou shalt hear the LORD; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;

¹⁰ and if thou pour out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:

¹¹ And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

¹² And they shall build up out of thee the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the fallen foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

Aleph

¹ ¶ Halelu-JAH. Blessed is the man that fears the LORD,

Beth

that delights greatly in his commandments.

Gimel

² His seed shall be mighty upon earth;

Daleth

the generation of the upright shall be blessed.

He

³ Wealth and riches shall be in his house;

Vau

and his righteousness endures for ever.

Zain

⁴ A light has shined in the darkness upon the upright:

Cheth

Gracious and merciful and righteous.

Teth

⁵ A good man has mercy and lends;

Jod

He will govern his affairs with good judgment.

Caph

⁶ ¶ Surely he shall not be moved for ever;

Lamed

the righteous shall be in eternal remembrance.

Mem

⁷ He shall not be afraid of evil rumours;

Nun

his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.

Samech

⁸ His heart is established; he shall not be afraid,

Ain

until he sees his desire upon his enemies.

Pe

⁹ He has dispersed; he has given to the poor;

Tzaddi

his righteousness endures for ever;

Koph

his horn shall be exalted in glory.

Resh

¹⁰ The wicked shall see it and be furious;

Schin

he shall gnash with his teeth and waste away:

Tau

The desire of the wicked shall perish.

2 ¶ And I, brothers, when I came to you, came not with puffed up speech or wisdom to declare unto you the testimony of God.

² For I judged not to know anything among you, except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

³ And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.

⁴ And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,

⁵ that your faith should not be founded in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

⁶ ¶ For we speak perfect wisdom of God, and not the wisdom of this age nor of the princes of this age, that come to nought,

⁷ but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages unto our glory,

⁸ which none of the princes of this age knew (for had they known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory).

⁹ But as it is written, That which eye has not seen nor ear heard neither has entered into the heart of man is that which God has prepared for those that love him.

¹⁰ But God has revealed this unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

¹¹ For who among men knows the things of man, except the spirit of man which is in him? Even so no one has known the things of God, but the Spirit of God.

¹² Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that God has given us.

¹³ Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but with doctrine of the Holy Spirit, jointly fitting spiritual things by spiritual means.

¹⁴ But the natural man does not perceive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

¹⁵ But he that is spiritual discerns all things, yet he is discerned by no one.

¹⁶ For who has known the understanding of the Lord? Who has instructed him? But we have the understanding of Christ.

¹³ ¶ Ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its savour, with what shall it be salted? From then on it is good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men.

¹⁴ Ye are the light of the world. A city set upon a mountain cannot be hid.

¹⁵ Neither do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on the lampstand, and it gives light unto all that are in the house.

¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in the heavens.

¹⁷ ¶ Think not that I am come to undo the law or the prophets; I am not come to undo, but to fulfil.

¹⁸ For verily I say unto you, Until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall pass from the law until all is fulfilled.

¹⁹ Whosoever therefore shall undo one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of the heavens; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of the heavens.

²⁰ For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of the heavens.