Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

² Behold, God is my salvation: I will trust, and not be afraid; for Jah, Jehovah, is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation.

³ And with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

⁴ And in that day shall ye say, Give ye thanks to Jehovah, call upon his name, declare his deeds among the peoples, make mention that his name is exalted.

⁵ Sing psalms of Jehovah, for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.

⁶ Cry out and shout, thou inhabitress of Zion; for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.

⁴ Hear this, ye that pant after the needy, even to cause to fail the poor of the land,

⁵ saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat? making the ephah small and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances for deceit:

⁶ that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; and that we may sell the refuse of the wheat.

⁷ Jehovah hath sworn by the glory of Jacob, Certainly I will never forget any of their works.

⁸ Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? And it shall wholly rise up like the Nile; and it shall surge and sink down, as the river of Egypt.

⁹ And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the land in the clear day.

¹⁰ And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning for an only [son], and the end thereof as a bitter day.

¹¹ Behold, days come, saith the Lord Jehovah, when I will send a famine in the land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Jehovah.

¹² And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of Jehovah, and shall not find it.

9 For concerning the ministration which [is] for the saints, it is superfluous my writing to you.

² For I know your readiness, which I boast of as respects you to Macedonians, that Achaia is prepared since a year ago, and the zeal [reported] of you has stimulated the mass [of the brethren].

³ But I have sent the brethren, in order that our boasting about you may not be made void in this respect, in order that, as I have said, ye may be prepared;

⁴ lest haply, if Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, *we*, that we say not *ye*, may be put to shame in this confidence.

⁵ I thought it necessary therefore to beg the brethren that they would come to you, and complete beforehand your fore-announced blessing, that this may be ready thus as blessing, and not as got out of you.

⁶ But this [is true], he that sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he that sows in [the spirit of] blessing shall reap also in blessing:

⁷ each according as he is purposed in his heart; not grievingly, or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.

⁸ But God is able to make every gracious gift abound towards you, that, having in every way always all-sufficiency, ye may abound to every good work:

⁹ according as it is written, He has scattered abroad, he has given to the poor, his righteousness remains for ever.

¹⁰ Now he that supplies seed to the sower and bread for eating shall supply and make abundant your sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness:

¹¹ enriched in every way unto all free-hearted liberality, which works through us thanksgiving to God.

¹² Because the ministration of this service is not only filling up the measure of what is lacking to the saints, but also abounding by many thanksgivings to God;

¹³ they glorifying God through the proof of this ministration, by reason of your subjection, by profession, to the glad tidings of the Christ, and your free-hearted liberality in communicating towards them and towards all;

¹⁴ and in their supplication for you, full of ardent desire for you, on account of the exceeding grace of God [which is] upon you.

¹⁵ Thanks [be] to God for his unspeakable free gift.