Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Prayer of Thanks

118 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His loving-kindness lasts forever. ² Let Israel say, “His loving-kindness lasts forever.”

¹⁴ The Lord is my strength and my song. He is the One Who saves me.

¹⁵ The joy of being saved is being heard in the tents of those who are right and good. The right hand of the Lord does powerful things. ¹⁶ The Lord’s right hand is lifted high. The right hand of the Lord does powerful things. ¹⁷ I will not die but live. And I will tell of what the Lord has done. ¹⁸ The Lord has punished me but He has not given me over to death.

¹⁹ Open to me the gates of what is right and good. I will go through them and give thanks to the Lord. ²⁰ This is the gate of the Lord. Those who are right with God will pass through it. ²¹ I will give thanks to You, for You have answered me. And You are the One Who saves me.

²² The stone that was put aside by the workmen has become the most important stone in the building. ²³ The Lord has done this. We think it is great! ²⁴ This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us be full of joy and be glad in it.

The Special Box Is Brought to Jerusalem

6 Again David gathered all the chosen men of Israel. There were 30,000. ² He got up and went with all the people who were with him to Baale-judah to bring from there the special box of God. It is called by the name of the Lord of All Who sits on His throne above the cherubim. ³ They carried the special box of God on a new wagon, and brought it out of the family of Abinadab which was on the hill. Abinadab’s sons Uzzah and Ahio were leading the new wagon. ⁴ They brought it with the special box of God from the family of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Ahio was walking in front of the special box. ⁵ And David and all those of the family of Israel sang and danced before the Lord with all their strength. They played songs with harps and timbrels.

⁶ But the cattle pulling the wagon almost made the special box of God fall when they came to the grain-floor of Nacon. So Uzzah put out his hand and took hold of the special box so it would not fall. ⁷ The anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah. God killed him there for his mistake. And he died there by the special box of God. ⁸ David became angry because the Lord had gone against Uzzah. So that place is called Perez-uzzah to this day. ⁹ David was afraid of the Lord that day, and he said, “How can the special box of the Lord come to me?” ¹⁰ So David was not willing to move the special box of the Lord into the city of David. But he took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. ¹¹ The special box of the Lord stayed in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months. And the Lord brought good to Obed-edom and all of his family.

¹² Now it was told to King David, “The Lord has brought good to the house of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the special box of God.” So David went and brought the special box of God from Obed-edom’s family into the city of David with joy. ¹³ When the men who carried the special box of the Lord had gone six steps, David killed and gave to the Lord a bull and a fat calf. ¹⁴ He was dancing before the Lord with all his strength. And he was wearing a linen vest. ¹⁵ So David and all those of the family of Israel were bringing the special box of the Lord with a loud voice and the sound of the horn.

Jesus Is Raised from the Dead ^(A)

24 Early in the morning on the first day of the week, the women went to the grave taking the spices they had made ready. ² They found the stone had been pushed away from the grave. ³ They went in but they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

⁴ While they wondered about what had happened, they saw two men standing by them in shining clothes. ⁵ They were very much afraid and got down with their faces to the ground. The men said to them, “Why do you look for the living One among those who are dead? ⁶ He is not here. He is risen. Do you not remember what He said to you when He was yet in Galilee? ⁷ He said, ‘The Son of Man must be given over into the hands of sinful men. He must be nailed to a cross. He will rise again three days later.’” ⁸ They remembered what He had said.

⁹ When they came back from the grave, they told all these things to the eleven followers and to all the others. ¹⁰ They were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James. Other women who were with them told these things to the followers also. ¹¹ Their words sounded like foolish talk. The followers did not believe them. ¹² But Peter got up and ran to the grave. He got down to look in and saw only the linen clothes. Then he went away, surprised about what had happened.