Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
To the director: A praise song of David.
139 Lord, you have tested me,
so you know all about me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I get up.
You know my thoughts from far away.
3 You know where I go and where I lie down.
You know everything I do.
4 Lord, you know what I want to say,
even before the words leave my mouth.
5 You are all around me—in front of me and behind me.
I feel your hand on my shoulder.
6 I am amazed at what you know;
it is too much for me to understand.
7 Your Spirit is everywhere I go.
I cannot escape your presence.
8 If I go up to heaven, you will be there.
If I go down to the place of death, you will be there.
9 If I go east where the sun rises
or go to live in the west beyond the sea,
10 even there you will take my hand and lead me.
Your strong right hand will protect me.
11 Suppose I wanted to hide from you and said,
“Surely the darkness will hide me.
The day will change to night and cover me.”
12 Even the darkness is not dark to you.
The night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are the same.
21 “I will let the other nations see what I have done, and they will begin to respect me! They will see my power that I used against the enemy. 22 Then from that day on, the family of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God. 23 And the nations will know why the family of Israel was carried away as prisoners to other countries. They will learn that my people turned against me, so I turned away from them. I let their enemies defeat them, so my people were killed in battle. 24 They sinned and made themselves filthy, so I punished them for the things they did. I turned away from them and refused to help them.”
25 So this is what the Lord God says: “Now I will bring the family of Jacob back from captivity. I will have mercy on the whole family of Israel. I will show my strong feelings for my holy name. 26 The people will forget their shame and all the times they turned against me. They will live in safety on their own land. No one will make them afraid. 27 I will bring my people back from other countries. I will gather them from the lands of their enemies. Then many nations will see how holy I am. 28 They will know that I am the Lord their God. That is because I made them leave their homes and go as prisoners to other countries. But then I gathered them together again and brought them back to their own land. 29 I will pour out my Spirit on the family of Israel, and I will never turn away from my people again.” This is what the Lord God said.
13 God made a promise to Abraham. And there is no one greater than God, so he made the promise with an oath in his own name—an oath that he would do what he promised. 14 He said, “I will surely bless you. I will give you many descendants.”[a] 15 Abraham waited patiently for this to happen, and later he received what God promised.
16 People always use the name of someone greater than themselves to make a promise with an oath. The oath proves that what they say is true, and there is no more arguing about it. 17 God wanted to prove that his promise was true. He wanted to prove this to those who would get what he promised. He wanted them to understand clearly that his purposes never change. So God said something would happen, and he proved what he said by adding an oath. 18 These two things cannot change: God cannot lie when he says something, and he cannot lie when he makes an oath.
So these two things are a great help to us who have come to God for safety. They encourage us to hold on to the hope that is ours. 19 This hope is like an anchor for us. It is strong and sure and keeps us safe. It goes behind the curtain.[b] 20 Jesus has already entered there and opened the way for us. He has become the high priest forever, just like Melchizedek.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International