Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
147 Praise the LORD, for it is good to sing to our God; for it is a pleasant thing and praise is comely.
2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem and gathers together the dispersed of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their sores.
4 He counts the number of the stars and calls them all by their names.
5 Great is our LORD, and great is his power. His wisdom is infinite.
6 The LORD relieves the meek and abases the wicked to the ground.
7 Sing to the LORD with praise! Sing upon the harp to our God,
8 Who covers the heavens with clouds and prepares rain for the Earth and makes the grass grow upon the mountains;
9 Who gives food to beasts and to the young ravens that cry.
10 He has no pleasure in the strength of a horse, nor does He delight in the legs of man.
11 The LORD delights in those who fear Him and expectantly await His mercy.
20 He has not dealt so with every nation; nor have they known His judgments. Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD
36 Elihu also proceeded and said,
2 “Bear with me a little and I will instruct you. For there is still more to speak on God’s behalf.
3 “I will fetch my knowledge from far off and will attribute righteousness to my Maker.
4 “For truly my words shall not be false. He who is perfect in knowledge is with you.
5 “Behold, the mighty God casts away no one who is mighty and valiant of courage.
6 “He does not maintain the wicked, but He gives justice to the afflicted.
7 “He does not withdraw His Eyes from the righteous. But they are with kings on the throne, where He places them forever. Thus they are exalted.
8 “And if they are bound in chains, tied with the cords of affliction,
9 “then He will show them their work and their sins, because they have been proud.
10 “He also opens their ear to discipline, and commands them to return from iniquity.
11 “If they obey and serve Him, they shall end their days in goodness, and their years in pleasures.
12 “But if they will not obey, they shall perish by the sword and die without knowledge.
13 “But the hypocrites of heart increase the wrath. They do not call out when He binds them.
14 “Their soul dies in youth, and their life among the whoremongers.
15 “He delivers the poor in His afflictions, and opens their ear in trouble.
16 “Even so would He have taken you out of the straight place into a broad place, without constraint. And that which rests upon your table would have been full of fatness.
17 “But you are full of the judgment of the wicked, judgment and justice grasp you
18 “because of wrath, lest He should take you away with a stroke. For no multitude of gifts can deliver you.
19 “Will He regard your riches or all those who excel in strength?
20 “Do not long for the night, when people go up from their place.
21 “Take heed. Do not look to iniquity. For you have chosen it rather than affliction.
22 “Behold, God exalts by His power. What teacher is like Him?
23 “Who has appointed to Him His way? Or who can say, ‘You have done wickedly’?
9 Am I not an Apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?
2 If I am not an Apostle to others, nonetheless, surely I am to you. For you are the seal of my Apostleship in the Lord.
3 My defense to those who examine me, is this:
4 Do we not have authority to eat and to drink?
5 Or do we not have authority to take along a wife who is a sister, just as the rest of the Apostles, and as the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?
6 Or do only Barnabas and I not have authority to not work?
7 Who goes to war at any time at his own cost? Who plants a vineyard, and does not eat of the fruit thereof? Or, who feeds a flock, and does not drink of the milk of the flock?
8 Do I say these things according to man? Does not the Law say the same also?
9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, ‘You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads out the corn’. Is God concerned for oxen?
10 Or does He not undoubtedly say this for our sakes? It is for our sakes this is written. That he who plows, should plow in hope, and that he who threshes in hope, should be a partaker of His hope.
11 If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap earthly things from you?
12 If others are partakers of this authority over you, should not we be more so? Nevertheless, we have not used this authority, but endure all things, that we should not hinder the Gospel of Christ.
13 Do you not know that those who administer the holy things, eat of the things of the Temple? And those who attend the altar are partakers with the altar?
14 So also has the Lord ordained, that those who preach the Gospel, should live from the Gospel.
15 But I have used none of these things. Nor have I written these things that it should be so done to me. For it would be better for me to die, than that anyone should make my exultation void.
16 For though I preach the Gospel, I have nothing in which to exult. For compulsion is laid upon me, and woe is to me, if I do not preach the Gospel.
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