Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 139
The Inescapable God
To the leader. Of David. A Psalm.
1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me.(A)
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.(B)
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.(C)
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.(D)
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.(E)
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.(F)
13 For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.(A)
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.(B)
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.(C)
16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.[a]
17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!(D)
18 I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
I come to the end[b]—I am still with you.
21 And[a] the Lord took note of Hannah; she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.(A)
Prophecy against Eli’s Household
22 Now Eli was very old. He heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel and how they lay with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.(B) 23 He said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people. 24 No, my sons; it is not a good report that I hear the people of the Lord spreading abroad.(C) 25 If one person sins against another, someone can intercede for the sinner with the Lord,[b] but if someone sins against the Lord, who can make intercession?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the Lord to kill them.(D)
The Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids
25 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten young women[a] took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.[b](A) 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.(B) 3 When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept.(C) 6 But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those young women[c] got up and trimmed their lamps.(D) 8 The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ 10 And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet, and the door was shut.(E) 11 Later the other young women[d] came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’(F) 12 But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’ 13 Keep awake, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.[e](G)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.