Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 101
A Vow of Integrity
A psalm of David.
1 I will sing of faithful love and justice;
I will sing praise to you, Lord.(A)
2 I will pay attention to the way of integrity.
When will you come to me?
I will live with a heart of integrity in my house.(B)
3 I will not let anything worthless guide me.[a]
I hate the practice of transgression;
it will not cling to me.(C)
4 A devious heart will be far from me;
I will not be involved with[b] evil.(D)
5 I will destroy anyone
who secretly slanders his neighbor;(E)
I cannot tolerate anyone
with haughty eyes or an arrogant heart.(F)
6 My eyes favor the faithful of the land
so that they may sit down with me.
The one who follows the way of integrity
may serve me.(G)
7 No one who acts deceitfully
will live in my palace;
the one who tells lies
will not be retained here to guide me.[c](H)
8 Every morning I will destroy
all the wicked of the land,
wiping out all evildoers from the Lord’s city.(I)
Solomon’s Wisdom
16 Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.(A) 17 One woman said, “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was in the house. 18 On the third day after I gave birth, she also had a baby and we were alone. No one else[a] was with us in the house; just the two of us were there. 19 During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him. 20 She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while your servant was asleep. She laid him in her arms, and she put her dead son in my arms. 21 When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, I discovered he was dead. That morning, when I looked closely at him I realized that he was not the son I gave birth to.”
22 “No,” the other woman said. “My son is the living one; your son is the dead one.”
The first woman said, “No, your son is the dead one; my son is the living one.” So they argued before the king.
23 The king replied, “This woman says, ‘This is my son who is alive, and your son is dead,’ but that woman says, ‘No, your son is dead, and my son is alive.’” 24 The king continued, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought the sword to the king. 25 And the king said, “Cut the living boy in two and give half to one and half to the other.”
26 The woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she felt great compassion[b](B) for her son. “My lord, give her the living baby,” she said, “but please don’t have him killed!”
But the other one said, “He will not be mine or yours. Cut him in two!”
27 The king responded, “Give the living baby to the first woman, and don’t kill him. She is his mother.” 28 All Israel heard about the judgment the king had given, and they stood in awe of the king because they saw that God’s wisdom(C) was in him to carry out justice.
Seven Chosen to Serve
6 In those days, as the disciples(A) were increasing in number, there arose a complaint by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution.(B) 2 The Twelve summoned the whole company of the disciples and said, “It would not be right for us to give up preaching the word of God to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, select from among you seven men of good reputation,(C) full of the Spirit(D) and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 This proposal pleased the whole company. So they chose Stephen,(E) a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a convert from Antioch.(F) 6 They had them stand before the apostles, who prayed(G) and laid their hands on(H) them.
7 So the word of God spread, the disciples in Jerusalem increased(I) greatly in number, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.