Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

[A Psalm] of David; when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.

34 I will bless Jehovah at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

² My soul shall make its boast in Jehovah: the meek shall hear, and rejoice.

³ Magnify Jehovah with me, and let us exalt his name together.

⁴ I sought Jehovah, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.

⁵ They looked unto him, and were enlightened, and their faces were not confounded.

⁶ This afflicted one called, and Jehovah heard [him], and saved him out of all his troubles.

⁷ The angel of Jehovah encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.

⁸ Taste and see that Jehovah is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him!

¹⁹ Many are the adversities of the righteous, but Jehovah delivereth him out of them all:

²⁰ He keepeth all his bones; not one of them is broken.

²¹ Evil shall destroy the wicked; and they that hate the righteous shall bear their guilt.

²² Jehovah redeemeth the soul of his servants; and none of them that trust in him shall bear guilt.

1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the fortress,

² that Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and [certain] men of Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, who were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.

³ And they said to me, Those who remain, that are left of the captivity there in the province, are in great affliction and reproach; and the wall of Jerusalem is in ruins, and its gates are burned with fire.

⁴ And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat and wept, and mourned for days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of the heavens,

⁵ and said, I beseech thee, Jehovah, God of the heavens, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and keep his commandments.

⁶ Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, to hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee at this time, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, confessing the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned.

⁷ We have acted very perversely against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances that thou commandedst thy servant Moses.

⁸ Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye act unfaithfully, I will scatter you among the peoples;

⁹ but if ye return to me, and keep my commandments and do them, though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heavens, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.

¹⁰ And they are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power and by thy strong hand.

¹¹ O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants who delight to fear thy name; and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. Now I was the king's cupbearer.

¹¹ If indeed then perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, for the people had their law given to them in connexion with *it*, what need [was there] still that a different priest should arise according to the order of Melchisedec, and not be named after the order of Aaron?

¹² For, the priesthood being changed, there takes place of necessity a change of law also.

¹³ For he, of whom these things are said, belongs to a different tribe, of which no one has [ever] been attached to the service of the altar.

¹⁴ For it is clear that our Lord has sprung out of Juda, as to which tribe Moses spake nothing as to priests.

¹⁵ And it is yet more abundantly evident, since a different priest arises according to the similitude of Melchisedec,

¹⁶ who has been constituted not according to law of fleshly commandment, but according to power of indissoluble life.

¹⁷ For it is borne witness, *Thou* art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedec.

¹⁸ For there is a setting aside of the commandment going before for its weakness and unprofitableness,

¹⁹ (for the law perfected nothing,) and the introduction of a better hope by which we draw nigh to God.

²⁰ And by how much [it was] not without the swearing of an oath;

²¹ (for they are become priests without the swearing of an oath, but he with the swearing of an oath, by him who said, as to him, The Lord has sworn, and will not repent [of it], *Thou* [art] priest for ever [according to the order of Melchisedec];)

²² by so much Jesus became surety of a better covenant.