Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 21
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David.
1 The king will rejoice in Your strength, O Lord,
and in Your salvation how greatly will he rejoice!
2 You have given him his heart’s desire,
and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah
3 For You meet him with the blessings of goodness;
You set a crown of pure gold on his head.
4 He asked life of You, and You gave it him,
length of days forever and ever.
5 His glory is great in Your salvation;
honor and majesty You set on him.
6 For You place blessings on him forever;
You make him rejoice with gladness with Your presence.
7 For the king trusts in the Lord,
and by the lovingkindness of the Most High
he will not be moved.
8 Your hand will find out all Your enemies;
Your right hand will find out those who hate You.
9 You will make them as a fiery oven
in the time of Your appearance;
the Lord will swallow them up in His wrath,
and fire will devour them.
10 You will destroy their offspring from the earth,
and their descendants from among the children of men.
11 For they intended evil against You;
they devised evil thoughts they will not be able to accomplish.
12 For You will make them turn their back,
when You aim with Your bowstrings against their face.
13 Be exalted, Lord, by Your strength;
may we sing and make music to Your might.
The Abrahamic Covenant
15 After this the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying,
“Do not fear, Abram.
I am your shield,
your exceedingly great reward.[a]”
2 But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Abram said, “Since You have not given me any children, my heir is a servant born in my house.”
4 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir, but a son that is from your own body will be your heir.” 5 He brought him outside and said, “Look up toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So will your descendants be.”
6 Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.
7 He also said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess[b] it.”
8 But Abram said, “Lord God, how may I know that I will possess it?”
9 So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
10 Then Abram brought all of these to Him and cut them in two and laid each piece opposite the other, but he did not cut the birds in half. 11 When the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and terror and a great darkness fell on him. 13 Then He said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will live as strangers in a land that is not theirs, and they will be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years. 14 But I will judge the nation that they serve, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 As for you, you will go to your fathers in peace and you will be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation, your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
17 When the sun went down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot with a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great Euphrates River—
A Tree and Its Fruit(A)
33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt and its fruit corrupt. For the tree is known by its fruit. 34 O generation of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things. And an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. 36 But I say to you that for every idle word that men speak, they will give an account on the Day of Judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.