Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 139
The All-Knowing, Ever-Present God
For the choir director. A Davidic psalm.
1 Lord, You have searched me and known me.(A)
2 You know when I sit down and when I stand up;
You understand my thoughts from far away.(B)
3 You observe my travels and my rest;
You are aware of all my ways.(C)
4 Before a word is on my tongue,
You know all about it, Lord.(D)
5 You have encircled me;
You have placed Your hand on me.(E)
6 This extraordinary knowledge is beyond me.
It is lofty; I am unable to reach it.(F)
13 For it was You who created my inward parts;[a]
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.(A)
14 I will praise You
because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made.[b][c]
Your works are wonderful,
and I know this very well.(B)
15 My bones were not hidden from You
when I was made in secret,
when I was formed in the depths of the earth.(C)
16 Your eyes saw me when I was formless;
all my days were written in Your book and planned
before a single one of them began.(D)
16 The Lord raised up(A) judges, who saved them from the power of their marauders, 17 but they did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted(B) themselves with other gods, bowing down to them. They quickly turned from the way(C) of their fathers, who had walked in obedience to the Lord’s commands. They did not do as their fathers did. 18 Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for the Israelites, the Lord was with(D) him and saved the people from the power of their enemies while the judge was still alive.[a] The Lord was moved to pity whenever they groaned because of those who were oppressing and afflicting them. 19 Whenever the judge died, the Israelites would act even more corruptly(E) than their fathers, going after other gods to worship and bow down to them. They did not turn from their evil practices or their obstinate(F) ways.
20 The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and He declared, “Because this nation has violated My covenant(G) that I made with their fathers(H) and disobeyed Me, 21 I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left(I) when he died.(J) 22 I did this to test Israel and to see whether they would keep the Lord’s way(K) by walking in it, as their fathers had.”(L) 23 The Lord left these nations and did not drive them out immediately. He did not hand them over to Joshua.
16 Then Paul stood up and motioned with his hand and said: “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen!(A) 17 The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors, exalted the people during their stay in the land of Egypt, and led them out of it with a mighty[a] arm.(B) 18 And for about 40 years He put up with them[b] in the wilderness;(C) 19 then after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan,(D) He gave their land to them as an inheritance. 20 This all took about 450 years. After this, He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.(E) 21 Then they asked for a king, so God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for 40 years.(F) 22 After removing him,(G) He raised up David as their king and testified about him: ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man loyal to Me,(H)[c] who will carry out all My will.’
23 “From this man’s descendants, according to the promise, God brought the Savior, Jesus,[d] to Israel.(I) 24 Before He came to public attention,[e] John had previously proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.(J) 25 Then as John was completing his life’s work, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the One. But look! Someone is coming after me, and I am not worthy to untie the sandals on His feet.’(K)
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