Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 118

¹ O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!

² Let Israel now say that His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever.

¹⁴ The Lord is my Strength and Song; and He has become my Salvation.

¹⁵ The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents and private dwellings of the [uncompromisingly] righteous: the right hand of the Lord does valiantly and achieves strength!

¹⁶ The right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord does valiantly and achieves strength!

¹⁷ I shall not die but live, and shall declare the works and recount the illustrious acts of the Lord.

¹⁸ The Lord has chastened me sorely, but He has not given me over to death.^(A)

¹⁹ Open to me the [temple] gates of righteousness; I will enter through them, and I will confess and praise the Lord.

²⁰ This is the gate of the Lord; the [uncompromisingly] righteous shall enter through it.^(B)

²¹ I will confess, praise, and give thanks to You, for You have heard and answered me; and You have become my Salvation and Deliverer.

²² The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

²³ This is from the Lord and is His doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.^(C)

²⁴ This is the day which the Lord has brought about; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

3 In the night I dreamed that I sought the one whom I love. [She said] I looked for him but could not find him.^(A)

² So I decided to go out into the city, into the streets and broad ways [which are so confusing to a country girl], and seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I could not find him.

³ The watchmen who go about the city found me, to whom I said, Have you seen him whom my soul loves?

⁴ I had gone but a little way past them when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him and would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her who conceived me.^(B)

⁵ I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the hinds of the field that you stir not up nor awaken love until it pleases.

⁶ Who or what is this [she asked] that comes gliding out of the wilderness like stately pillars of smoke perfumed with myrrh, frankincense, and all the fragrant powders of the merchant?

⁷ [Someone answered] Behold, it is the traveling litter (the bridal car) of Solomon. Sixty mighty men are around it, of the mighty men of Israel.

⁸ They all handle the sword and are expert in war; every man has his sword upon his thigh, that fear be not excited in the night.

⁹ King Solomon made himself a car or a palanquin from the [cedar] wood of Lebanon.

¹⁰ He made its posts of silver, its back of gold, its seat of purple, the inside of it lovingly and intricately wrought in needlework by the daughters of Jerusalem.

¹¹ Go forth, O you daughters of Zion, and gaze upon King Solomon wearing the crown with which his mother [Bathsheba] crowned him on the day of his wedding, on the day of his gladness of heart.

16 And when the Sabbath was past [that is, after the sun had set], Mary Magdalene, and Mary [the mother] of James, and Salome purchased sweet-smelling spices, so that they might go and anoint [Jesus’ body].

² And very early on the first day of the week they came to the tomb; [by then] the sun had risen.

³ And they said to one another, Who will roll back the stone for us out of [the groove across the floor at] the door of the tomb?

⁴ And when they looked up, they [distinctly] saw that the stone was already rolled back, for it was very large.

⁵ And going into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting [there] on the right [side], clothed in a [^[a]long, stately, sweeping] robe of white, and they were utterly amazed and struck with terror.

⁶ And he said to them, Do not be amazed and terrified; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, Who was crucified. He has risen; He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.^(A)

⁷ But be going; tell the disciples and Peter, He goes before you into Galilee; you will see Him there, [just] as He told you.^(B)

⁸ Then they went out [and] fled from the tomb, for trembling and bewilderment and consternation had seized them. And they said nothing about it to anyone, for they were held by alarm and fear.