Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
20 I have found my servant David;
with my holy oil I have anointed him;(A)
21 my hand shall always remain with him;
my arm also shall strengthen him.
22 The enemy shall not outwit him;
the wicked shall not humble him.(B)
23 I will crush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.(C)
24 My faithfulness and steadfast love shall be with him,
and in my name his horn shall be exalted.(D)
25 I will set his hand on the sea
and his right hand on the rivers.
26 He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, and the Rock of my salvation!’(E)
27 I will make him the firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.(F)
28 Forever I will keep my steadfast love for him,
and my covenant with him will stand firm.(G)
29 I will establish his line forever
and his throne as long as the heavens endure.(H)
30 If his children forsake my law
and do not walk according to my ordinances,(I)
31 if they violate my statutes
and do not keep my commandments,
32 then I will punish their transgression with the rod
and their iniquity with scourges,(J)
33 but I will not remove from him my steadfast love
or be false to my faithfulness.(K)
34 I will not violate my covenant
or alter the word that went forth from my lips.(L)
35 Once and for all I have sworn by my holiness;
I will not lie to David.(M)
36 His line shall continue forever,
and his throne endure before me like the sun.(N)
37 It shall be established forever like the moon,
an enduring witness in the skies.” Selah
15 Three of the thirty chiefs went down to the rock to David at the cave of Adullam while the army of Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim.(A) 16 David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem. 17 David said longingly, “Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!” 18 Then the Three broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and they brought it to David. But David would not drink of it; he poured it out to the Lord 19 and said, “My God forbid that I should do this. Can I drink the blood of these men? For at the risk of their lives they brought it.” Therefore he would not drink it. The three warriors did these things.
The Supremacy of Christ
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation,(A) 16 for in[a] him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He himself is before all things, and in[b] him all things hold together. 18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.(B) 19 For in him all the fullness of God[c] was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.(C)
21 And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled[d] in his fleshly body[e] through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him,(D) 23 provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature[f] under heaven. I, Paul, became a minister of this gospel.(E)
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.