Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

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

Aleph

¹ ¶ I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Beth

² My soul shall glory in the LORD; the meek shall hear of this, and be glad.

Gimel

³ O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.

Daleth

⁴ I sought the LORD, and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears.

He

⁵ They looked unto him and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed.

Vau

⁶ This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.

Zain

⁷ The angel of the LORD encamps round about those that fear him and delivers them.

Cheth

⁸ O taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man that shall trust in him.

Koph

¹⁹ Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD shall deliver him out of them all,

Resh

²⁰ keeping all his bones; not one of them shall be broken.

Schin

²¹ Evil shall slay the wicked; and those that hate the righteous shall be declared guilty.

Tau

²² The LORD ransoms the soul of his slaves, and none of those that trust in him shall be declared guilty.

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

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

³ And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.

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

⁵ ¶ and said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of the heavens, strong, great and terrible, who keeps covenant and mercy for those that love thee and observe thy commandments;

⁶ let thine ear now be attentive and thine eyes open, that thou may hear the prayer of thy slave, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the sons of Israel, thy slaves, and I confess the sins of the sons of Israel, with which we have sinned against thee; both I and my father’s house have sinned.

⁷ We have dealt very corruptly against thee and have not kept the commandments nor the statutes nor the judgments, which thou didst command thy slave Moses.

⁸ Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou didst command thy slave Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the peoples;

⁹ but if ye turn unto 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 there and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to cause my name to dwell there.

¹⁰ Now these are thy slaves and thy people, whom thou hast ransomed with thy great power and with thy strong hand.

¹¹ O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy slave and to the prayer of thy slaves who desire to fear thy name; and prosper, I pray thee, thy slave this day, and grant him grace before this man. For I was the king’s cupbearer.

¹¹ ¶ If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec and not be called after the order of Aaron?

¹² For the priesthood being transposed, there is made of necessity a translation also of the law.

¹³ For he of whom these things are spoken pertains to another tribe, of which no one presided at the altar.

¹⁴ For it is manifest that our Lord sprang out of Juda, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood.

¹⁵ And it is yet far more manifest: if there arises another priest who is like unto Melchisedec,

¹⁶ who is not made according to the law of a carnal commandment, but by the virtue of an indissoluble life;

¹⁷ for the testimony is of this manner, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

¹⁸ For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness of it;

¹⁹ for the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by which we draw near unto God.

²⁰ And even more, inasmuch as it is not without an oath

²¹ (for the others indeed without an oath were made priests, but this one with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord swore and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec);

²² by so much better testament is Jesus made surety.