Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 147
God Restores Jerusalem
1 Hallelujah!
How good it is to sing to our God,
for praise is pleasant and lovely.(A)
2 The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem;(B)
He gathers Israel’s exiled people.(C)
3 He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.(D)
4 He counts the number of the stars;
He gives names to all of them.(E)
5 Our Lord is great, vast in power;
His understanding is infinite.[a](F)
6 The Lord helps the afflicted
but brings the wicked to the ground.(G)
There is No One Like God
46 Bel crouches; Nebo cowers.(A)
Their idols are consigned to beasts and cattle.
The images you carry are loaded,
as a burden for the weary animal.
2 The gods cower; they crouch together;
they are not able to rescue the burden,
but they themselves go into captivity.(B)
3 “Listen to Me, house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
who have been sustained from the womb,
carried along since birth.
4 I will be the same until your old age,(C)
and I will bear you up when you turn gray.
I have made you, and I will carry you;
I will bear and save you.
5 “Who will you compare Me or make Me equal to?
Who will you measure Me with,
so that we should be like each other?(D)
6 Those who pour out their bags of gold
and weigh out silver on scales—
they hire a goldsmith and he makes it into a god.
Then they kneel and bow down to it.(E)
7 They lift it to their shoulder and bear it along;(F)
they set it in its place, and there it stands;
it does not budge from its place.(G)
They cry out to it but it doesn’t answer;
it saves no one from his trouble.
8 “Remember this and be brave;[a]
take it to heart, you transgressors!
9 Remember what happened long ago,(H)
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and no one is like Me.
10 I declare the end from the beginning,
and from long ago what is not yet done,
saying: My plan will take place,
and I will do all My will.(I)
11 I call a bird of prey[b] from the east,(J)
a man for My purpose from a far country.
Yes, I have spoken; so I will also bring it about.(K)
I have planned it; I will also do it.
12 Listen to me, you hardhearted,
far removed from justice:
13 I am bringing My justice near;(L)
it is not far away,
and My salvation will not delay.
I will put salvation in Zion,
My splendor in Israel.
The Man with the Paralyzed Hand
9 Moving on from there, He entered their synagogue.(A) 10 There He saw a man who had a paralyzed hand. And in order to accuse Him they asked Him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”(B)
11 But He said to them, “What man among you, if he had a sheep[a] that fell into a pit on the Sabbath, wouldn’t take hold of it and lift it out?(C) 12 A man is worth far more than a sheep,(D) so it is lawful to do what is good on the Sabbath.”
13 Then He told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out, and it was restored,(E) as good as the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.(F)
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