Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

19 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the expanse sheweth the work of his hands.

² Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.

³ There is no speech and there are no words, yet their voice is heard.

⁴ Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their language to the extremity of the world. In them hath he set a tent for the sun,

⁵ And he is as a bridegroom going forth from his chamber; he rejoiceth as a strong man to run the race.

⁶ His going forth is from the end of the heavens, and his circuit unto the ends of it; and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.

⁷ The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of Jehovah is sure, making wise the simple;

⁸ The precepts of Jehovah are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of Jehovah is pure, enlightening the eyes;

⁹ The fear of Jehovah is clean, enduring for ever; the judgments of Jehovah are truth, they are righteous altogether:

¹⁰ They are more precious than gold, yea, than much fine gold; and sweeter than honey and the dropping of the honeycomb.

¹¹ Moreover, by them is thy servant enlightened; in keeping them there is great reward.

¹² Who understandeth [his] errors? Purify me from secret [faults].

¹³ Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous [sins]; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be perfect, and I shall be innocent from great transgression.

¹⁴ Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Jehovah, my rock, and my redeemer.

2 And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, [that] wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now, I had never been sad in his presence.

² And the king said to me, Why is thy face sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sadness of heart. And I was very sore afraid.

³ And I said to the king, Let the king live for ever! Why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lies waste, and its gates are consumed with fire?

⁴ And the king said to me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of the heavens.

⁵ And I said to the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it.

⁶ And the king said to me—the queen also sitting by him,—For how long shall thy journey be, and when wilt thou return? And it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.

⁷ And I said to the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may set me forward till I come into Judah;

⁸ and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which [appertains] to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.

⁹ And I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of a force and horsemen with me.

¹⁰ And when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobijah the servant, the Ammonite, heard [of it], it grieved them exceedingly that there had come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.

12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the compassions of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, [which is] your intelligent service.

² And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of [your] mind, that ye may prove what [is] the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

³ For I say, through the grace which has been given to me, to every one that is among you, not to have high thoughts above what he should think; but to think so as to be wise, as God has dealt to each a measure of faith.

⁴ For, as in one body we have many members, but all the members have not the same office;

⁵ thus we, [being] many, are one body in Christ, and each one members one of the other.

⁶ But having different gifts, according to the grace which has been given to us, whether [it be] prophecy, [let us prophesy] according to the proportion of faith;

⁷ or service, [let us occupy ourselves] in service; or he that teaches, in teaching;

⁸ or he that exhorts, in exhortation; he that gives, in simplicity; he that leads, with diligence; he that shews mercy, with cheerfulness.