Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

²² ¶ Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus, {Mars’ Hill} and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.

²³ For as I passed by and beheld your sanctuaries, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him I declare unto you.

²⁴ The God that made the world and all the things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;

²⁵ neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he gives to all life and breath and all things

²⁶ and has made of one blood all the lineage of men to dwell on all the face of the earth and has determined the seasons (which he has limited) and the bounds of their habitation;

²⁷ that they should seek the Lord, if in any manner they might reach out to touch him and find him though he is not far from each one of us;

²⁸ for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also of his lineage.

²⁹ Being therefore of the lineage of God, we ought not to think that which is Divine is like unto gold or silver or stone, bearing the mark of art and man’s imagination.

³⁰ For the times of this ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men everywhere to repent

³¹ because he has appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained; of whom he has given assurance unto all men in that he has raised him from the dead.

⁸ ¶ O bless our God, ye peoples, and make the voice of his praise to be heard.

⁹ It is he who placed our soul into life and did not suffer our feet to slip.

¹⁰ For thou, O God, hast proved us; thou hast refined us as silver is refined.

¹¹ Thou didst bring us into the net; thou didst lay affliction upon our loins.

¹² Thou hast placed a man over our head; we went through fire and through water, but thou didst bring us out into abundance.

¹³ ¶ I will go into thy house with burnt offerings; I will pay thee my vows,

¹⁴ which my lips have uttered and my mouth has spoken when I was in trouble.

¹⁵ I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah.

¹⁶ Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he has done unto my soul.

¹⁷ I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue.

¹⁸ If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

¹⁹ But verily God has heard me; he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

²⁰ Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer nor his mercy from me.

¹³ And who is he that can harm you, if ye are followers of that which is good?

¹⁴ But also if ye suffer anything for righteousness’ sake, blessed are ye; therefore, be not afraid of their terror neither be troubled,

¹⁵ but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to respond to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and reverence,

¹⁶ ¶ having a good conscience, so in that which they murmur against you as of evildoers, those that blaspheme your good conversation in the Christ may be confused.

¹⁷ For it is better (if the will of God so desires) that ye suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

¹⁸ ¶ For the Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in spirit,

¹⁹ in which he also went and preached unto the imprisoned spirits,

²⁰ which in the time past were disobedient, when once the patience of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being made ready, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

²¹ ¶ Unto the figure of which the baptism that does now correspond saves us (not taking away the uncleanness of the flesh, but giving testimony of a good conscience before God) by the resurrection of Jesus, the Christ,

²² who is at the right hand of God, having ascended into heaven, unto whom the angels and the authorities and powers are subject.

¹⁵ ¶ If ye love me, keep my commandments;

¹⁶ and I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever,

¹⁷ even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see him, or know him; but ye know him, for he dwells with you and shall be in you.

¹⁸ ¶ I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

¹⁹ Yet a little while, and the world shall see me no more, but ye shall see me; because I live, ye shall live also.

²⁰ At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

²¹ He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me; and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him.