Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Praise God Who Judges and Saves

David’s song from the time he acted crazy so Abimelech would send him away, and David did leave.

Nehemiah’s Prayer

1 These are the words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah.

In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year,^[a] I, Nehemiah, was in the capital city of Susa. ² One of my brothers named Hanani came with some other men from Judah. I asked them about Jerusalem and the Jewish people who lived through the captivity.

³ They answered me, “Those who are left from the captivity are back in Judah, but they are in much trouble and are full of shame. The wall around Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned.”

⁴ When I heard these things, I sat down and cried for several days. I was sad and fasted. I prayed to the God of heaven, ⁵ “Lord, God of heaven, you are the great God who is to be respected. You are loyal, and you keep your agreement with those who love you and obey your commands. ⁶ Look and listen carefully. Hear the prayer that I, your servant, am praying to you day and night for your servants, the Israelites. I confess the sins we Israelites have done against you. My father’s family and I have sinned against you. ⁷ We have been wicked toward you and have not obeyed the commands, rules, and laws you gave your servant Moses.

⁸ “Remember what you taught your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations. ⁹ But if you return to me and obey my commands, I will gather your people from the far ends of the earth. And I will bring them from captivity to where I have chosen to be worshiped.’

¹⁰ “They are your servants and your people, whom you have saved with your great strength and power. ¹¹ Lord, listen carefully to the prayer of your servant and the prayers of your servants who love to honor you. Give me, your servant, success today; allow this king to show kindness to me.”

I was the one who served wine to the king.

¹¹ The people were given the law^[a] concerning the system of priests from the tribe of Levi, but they could not be made perfect through that system. So there was a need for another priest to come, a priest like Melchizedek, not Aaron. ¹² And when a different kind of priest comes, the law must be changed, too. ¹³ We are saying these things about Christ, who belonged to a different tribe. No one from that tribe ever served as a priest at the altar. ¹⁴ It is clear that our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, and Moses said nothing about priests belonging to that tribe.

Jesus Is like Melchizedek

¹⁵ And this becomes even more clear when we see that another priest comes who is like Melchizedek.^{[b] 16} He was not made a priest by human rules and laws but through the power of his life, which continues forever. ¹⁷ It is said about him,

¹⁸ The old rule is now set aside, because it was weak and useless. ¹⁹ The law of Moses could not make anything perfect. But now a better hope has been given to us, and with this hope we can come near to God. ²⁰ It is important that God did this with an oath. Others became priests without an oath, ²¹ but Christ became a priest with God’s oath. God said:

²² This means that Jesus is the guarantee of a better agreement^[c] from God to his people.