Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
20 I have found David My servant;
I have anointed him with My sacred oil.(A)
21 My hand will always be with him,
and My arm will strengthen him.(B)
22 The enemy will not afflict[a] him;
no wicked man will oppress him.(C)
23 I will crush his foes before him
and strike those who hate him.(D)
24 My faithfulness and love will be with him,
and through My name
his horn will be exalted.(E)
25 I will extend his power to the sea
and his right hand to the rivers.(F)
26 He will call to Me, ‘You are my Father,(G)
my God, the rock of my salvation.’(H)
27 I will also make him My firstborn,
greatest of the kings of the earth.(I)
28 I will always preserve My faithful love for him,
and My covenant with him will endure.(J)
29 I will establish his line forever,
his throne as long as heaven lasts.[b](K)
30 If his sons forsake My instruction
and do not live by My ordinances,(L)
31 if they dishonor My statutes
and do not keep My commands,(M)
32 then I will call their rebellion
to account with the rod,
their sin with blows.(N)
33 But I will not withdraw
My faithful love from him
or betray My faithfulness.(O)
34 I will not violate My covenant
or change what My lips have said.(P)
35 Once and for all
I have sworn an oath by My holiness;
I will not lie to David.(Q)
36 His offspring will continue forever,
his throne like the sun before Me,(R)
37 like the moon, established forever,
a faithful witness in the sky.”(S)
God’s Blessing on David
14 King Hiram of Tyre sent envoys to David,(A) along with cedar logs, stonemasons, and carpenters to build a palace for him. 2 Then David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and that his kingdom had been exalted for the sake of His people Israel.
Paul in Athens
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was troubled within him when he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with those who worshiped God and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.(A) 18 Then also, some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers argued with him. Some said, “What is this pseudo-intellectual[a] trying to say?”
Others replied, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign deities”—because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the Resurrection.[b](B)
19 They took him and brought him to the Areopagus,[c] and said, “May we learn about this new teaching you’re speaking of?(C) 20 For what you say sounds strange to us, and we want to know what these ideas mean.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners residing there spent their time on nothing else but telling or hearing something new.
The Areopagus Address
22 Then Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that you are extremely religious in every respect. 23 For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed:
TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.
Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it(D)—He is Lord of heaven and earth(E) and does not live in shrines made by hands.(F) 25 Neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything,(G) since He Himself gives everyone life and breath and all things.(H) 26 From one man[d] He has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live.(I) 27 He did this so they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.(J) 28 For in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’[e](K) 29 Being God’s offspring then, we shouldn’t think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image fashioned by human art and imagination.(L)
30 “Therefore, having overlooked(M) the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because He has set a day when He is going to judge the world in righteousness by the Man He has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”(N)
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