Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A song of David.
145 I will tell of your greatness, my God and King.
I will praise your name forever and ever.
2 I will praise you every day.
I will praise your name forever and ever.
3 The Lord is great and deserves all our praise!
No one can fully understand his greatness!
4 Each generation will praise you
and tell the next generation about the great things you do.
5 Your majesty and glory are wonderful.
I will tell about your miracles.
6 People will tell about the amazing things you do,
and I will tell everyone how great you are.
7 They will talk about your goodness
and sing about your justice.
8 The Lord is kind and merciful,
patient and full of love.
9 The Lord is good to everyone.
He shows his mercy to everything he made.
10 Lord, all you have made will give thanks to you.
Your loyal followers will praise you.
11 They will tell how great your kingdom is.
They will tell how great you are.
12 So others will learn about the mighty things you do,
about the glory of your kingdom—how marvelous it is!
13 Your kingdom will never end,
and you will rule forever.
The Lord can be trusted in all that he says.
He is loyal in all that he does.[a]
14 The Lord lifts up people who have fallen.
He helps those who are in trouble.
15 All living things look to you for their food,
and you give them their food at the right time.
16 You open your hands
and give every living thing all that it needs.
17 Everything the Lord does is good.
Everything he does shows how loyal he is.
18 The Lord is near to everyone
who sincerely calls to him for help.
19 He listens to his followers and does what they want.
He answers their prayers and saves them.
20 The Lord protects everyone who loves him,
but he destroys all who do evil.
21 I will praise the Lord!
Let everyone praise his holy name forever and ever!
He Speaks to Her
4 My darling, you are so beautiful!
Oh, you are beautiful!
Your eyes are like doves
under your veil.
Your hair is long and flowing,
like little goats dancing down the slopes of Mount Gilead.
2 Your teeth are white like ewes[a]
just coming from their bath.
They all give birth to twins;
not one of them has lost a baby.
3 Your lips are like a red silk thread.
Your mouth is beautiful.
Your cheeks under your veil
are like two slices of pomegranate.
4 Your neck is long and thin
like David’s tower.
That tower was built to be decorated[b]
with a thousand shields on its walls,
with the shields of powerful soldiers.
5 Your breasts are like twin fawns,
like twins of a gazelle,
feeding among the lilies.
6 I will go to that mountain of myrrh
and to that hill of frankincense
while the day breathes its last breath,
and the shadows run away.
7 My darling, you are beautiful all over.
Every part of you is perfect.
8 Come with me, my bride, from Lebanon.
Come with me from Lebanon.
Come from the peak of Amana,[c]
from the top of Senir[d] and Hermon,
from the lion’s caves,
from the mountain of the leopards.
3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul Gives Thanks to God
4 I always thank my God for you because of the grace that he has given you through Christ Jesus. 5 In him you have been blessed in every way. You have been blessed in all your speaking and all your knowledge. 6 This proves that what we told you about Christ is true. 7 Now you have every gift from God while you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to come again. 8 He will keep you strong until the end so that on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ comes, you will be free from all blame. 9 God is faithful. He is the one who has chosen you to share life with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Stop Arguing With Each Other
10 Brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, I beg all of you to agree with each other. You should not be divided into different groups. Be completely joined together again with the same kind of thinking and the same purpose.
11 My brothers and sisters, some members of Chloe’s family told me that there are arguments among you. 12 This is what I mean: One of you says, “I follow Paul,” and someone else says, “I follow Apollos.” Another says, “I follow Peter,”[a] and someone else says, “I follow Christ.” 13 Christ cannot be divided into different groups. It wasn’t Paul who died on the cross for you, was it? Were you baptized in Paul’s name? 14 I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius. 15 I am thankful because now no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (I also baptized the family of Stephanas, but I don’t remember that I myself baptized any others.) 17 Christ did not give me the work of baptizing people. He gave me the work of telling the Good News. But he sent me to tell the Good News without using clever speech, which would take away the power that is in the cross[b] of Christ.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International