Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 72[a]
The Kingdom of the Messiah
1 Of Solomon.
O God, endow the king with your judgment,
the son of kings with your righteousness.
2 [b]He will govern your people fairly
and deal justly with your poor ones.
3 The mountains will yield peace for the people,
and the hills, righteousness.
4 He will defend the afflicted among the people,
save the children of the poor,
and overwhelm the oppressor.
5 He will reign as long as the sun,
as long as the moon, through all generations.
6 He will descend like rain on the meadow,
like showers that water the earth.
7 Justice will reign in his days,
and peace will abound
until the moon is no more.
18 [a]Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
who alone can perform such wondrous deeds.
19 May his glorious name be blessed forever,
and may the whole world be filled with his glory.
Amen. Amen.
19 O people of Zion who dwell in Jerusalem,
you will weep no more.
The Lord will be gracious to you
when you cry out to him for help;
when he hears your call,
he will answer you.
20 Although the Lord may give you the bread of adversity
and the water of affliction,
he who is your Teacher will no longer hide himself,
but with your own eyes you will see your Teacher.
21 And when you stray from your path,
whether to the right or to the left,
you will hear his voice behind you,
sounding in your ears and saying,
“This is the way; continue to follow it.”
22 Then you will realize how unclean
are your silver-plated idols
and your gold-plated images.
You will cast them away like polluted rags
and shout at them, “Away with you!”
God’s Promise of Prosperity
23 God will send rain
for the seed you sow in the ground,
and the crops that the soil brings forth
will be rich and abundant.
When that day comes,
your cattle will graze in broad pastures.
24 The oxen and the donkeys that plow the land
will be fed with fodder
that has been winnowed with shovel and pitchfork.
25 On every lofty mountain and on every high hill
there will be streams of water
on the day of the great slaughter
when the strongholds fall.
26 The light of the moon will match that of the sun,
and the light of the sun itself
will be seven times brighter than before,
like the light of seven days compressed into one,
when the Lord binds up the wounds of his people
and heals the injuries inflicted by his blows.
16 Paul’s Speech in the Synagogue. Then Paul stood up, motioned with his hand, and began to speak, saying, “Listen, men of Israel and you others who fear God![a] 17 The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors and made our people great while they were dwelling as foreigners in Egypt. With uplifted arm, he led them out, 18 and for about forty years he endured their conduct in the desert.
19 “After he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave their land to his people as their inheritance 20 at the end of about four hundred and fifty years.[b] After that, he appointed judges for them until the time of the prophet Samuel.
21 “Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul, son of Kish, a man from the tribe of Benjamin. He reigned for forty years, 22 after which God removed him and raised up David as their king. In commending him, he said, ‘I have found David, the son of Jesse, to be a man after my own heart. He will carry out my every wish.’
23 “From this man’s descendants, God has fulfilled his promise by raising up for Israel a savior, Jesus. 24 Prior to his coming, John had already proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 And as John was nearing the end of his work, he said, ‘I am not the one you believe me to be. One is coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to unfasten.’
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