Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹ ¶ Why do the Gentiles rage, and the peoples imagine a vain thing?

² The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his anointed, saying,

³ let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us.

⁴ He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.

⁵ Then he shall speak unto them in his wrath and trouble them in his sore displeasure.

⁶ Yet I have set my king upon Zion, the mountain of my holiness.

⁷ ¶ I will declare the decree; the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day I have begotten thee.

⁸ Ask of me, and I shall give thee the Gentiles for thine inheritance and unto the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

⁹ Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

¹⁰ ¶ Understand now therefore, O ye kings: receive chastening, ye judges of the earth.

¹¹ Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

¹² Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled in a little while. Blessed are all those that put their trust in him.

² And God spoke unto Moses and said unto him, I am the LORD;

³ and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD (YHWH) I was not known to them.

⁴ And I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers.

⁵ And likewise I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant.

⁶ Therefore say unto the sons of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will free you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgments.

⁷ And I will take you as my people, and I will be your God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

⁸ And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning which I raised my hand to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it unto you for a heritage: I am the LORD.

⁹ In this manner Moses spoke unto the sons of Israel, but they did not hearken unto Moses because of their anguish of spirit and cruel bondage.

8 ¶ Now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum: We have such a high priest who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,

² a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

³ For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices; therefore, it is also necessary that this one have something to offer.

⁴ For if he were on earth, he should not even be a priest, being present still the other priests that offer gifts according to the law,

⁵ (who serve as an example and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed unto thee in the mount);

⁶ ¶ but now a more excellent ministry is his, in that he is the mediator of a better testament, which was established upon better promises.

⁷ For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place should have been sought for the second.