Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Thanksgiving for the Lord’s Favor.
A Psalm of David.
138 (A)I will give You thanks with all my heart;
I will sing praises to You before the (B)gods.
2 I will bow down (C)toward Your holy temple
And (D)give thanks to Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your [a]truth;
For You have (E)magnified Your [b]word [c]according to all Your name.
3 On the day I (F)called, You answered me;
You made me bold with (G)strength in my soul.
4 (H)All the kings of the earth will give thanks to You, O Lord,
When they have heard the words of Your mouth.
5 And they will (I)sing of the ways of the Lord,
For (J)great is the glory of the Lord.
6 For (K)though the Lord is exalted,
Yet He (L)regards the lowly,
But the (M)haughty He knows from afar.
7 Though I (N)walk in the midst of trouble, You will [d](O)revive me;
You will (P)stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
And Your right hand will (Q)save me.
8 The Lord will (R)accomplish what concerns me;
Your (S)lovingkindness, O Lord, is everlasting;
(T)Do not forsake the (U)works of Your hands.
Capture of the Ark Provokes God
5 Now the Philistines took the ark of God and (A)brought it from Ebenezer to (B)Ashdod. 2 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it to (C)the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. 3 When the Ashdodites arose early the next morning, behold, (D)Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and (E)set him in his place again. 4 But when they arose early the next morning, behold, (F)Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. And the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold; [a]only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. 5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor all who enter Dagon’s house (G)tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.
6 Now (H)the hand of the Lord was heavy on the Ashdodites, and (I)He ravaged them and smote them with (J)tumors, both Ashdod and its territories. 7 When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for His hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god.” 8 So they sent and (K)gathered all the lords of the Philistines to them and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” And they said, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath.” And they brought the ark of the God of Israel around. 9 After they had brought it around, (L)the hand of the Lord was against the city with very great confusion; and He smote the men of the city, both young and old, so that (M)tumors broke out on them. 10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And as the ark of God came to Ekron the Ekronites cried out, saying, “They have brought the ark of the God of Israel around to [b]us, to kill [c]us and [d]our people.” 11 They (N)sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, so that it will not kill [e]us and [f]our people.” For there was a deadly confusion throughout the city; (O)the hand of God was very heavy there. 12 And the men who did not die were smitten with tumors and (P)the cry of the city went up to heaven.
The Temporal and Eternal
5 For we know that if [a]the (A)earthly (B)tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house (C)not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For indeed in this house we (D)groan, longing to be (E)clothed with our dwelling from heaven, 3 inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. 4 For indeed while we are in this tent, we (F)groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be (G)clothed, so that what is (H)mortal will be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who (I)gave to us the Spirit as a [b]pledge.
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