Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Michtam of David.

¹ ¶ Preserve me, O God: for in thee I have put my trust.

² I said unto the LORD, Thou art my goodness: I have no goodness apart from thee;

³ to the saints that are in the earth and to the excellent: all my delight is towards them.

⁴ The sorrows of those that hasten after another god shall be multiplied; their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.

⁵ The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup; thou dost maintain my lot.

⁶ The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a beautiful inheritance.

⁷ I will bless the LORD, who gives me counsel: my kidneys also instruct me in the night seasons.

⁸ ¶ I have set the LORD always before me: because when he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

⁹ Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices: my flesh also shall rest secure.

¹⁰ For thou wilt not leave my soul in Sheol; neither wilt thou suffer thy Merciful One to see corruption.

¹¹ Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; in thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

⁹ ¶ What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved that thou dost so charge us?

¹⁰ My beloved is white and ruddy; the standard-bearer among the ten thousands.

¹¹ His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy and black as a raven.

¹² His eyes are as doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, as doves that are next to abundance.

¹³ His cheeks are as a bed of aromatic spices, as fragrant flowers; his lips like lilies, dripping sweet smelling myrrh that transcends.

¹⁴ His hands are as gold rings set with beryls; his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.

¹⁵ His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold; his countenance is as Lebanon, chosen as the cedars.

¹⁶ His mouth is most sweet; he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O virgins of Jerusalem.

6 ¶ Where has thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? where didst thy beloved separate himself? that we may seek him with thee.

² My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather the lilies.

³ I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine; he feeds among the lilies.

15 ¶ Moreover, brothers, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received and in which ye stand;

² by which also ye are being saved if ye retain the word that I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

³ For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received: how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures

⁴ and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures

⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas and then to the twelve;

⁶ after that, he appeared unto more than five hundred brothers at once, of whom the greater part remain unto now, but some are fallen asleep.

⁷ After that, he appeared unto James; then to all the apostles.

⁸ And last of all he appeared unto me also, as of one born out of due time.

⁹ For I am the least of the apostles, for I am not worthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} of God.

¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am; and his grace towards me was not in vain, for I laboured more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

¹¹ Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.