Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

49 ¶ Listen, O isles, unto me, and hearken, ye peoples, from far, The LORD has called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother he has remembered my name.

² And he has made my mouth like a sharp sword; with the shadow of his hand he has covered me, and made me a clean arrow; in his quiver he has kept me.

³ And he said unto me, Thou art my slave, O Israel; in thee I will glory.

⁴ But I said, I have laboured in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing, and in vain; yet surely my judgment is before the LORD and my recompense with my God.

⁵ And now, saith the LORD, he that formed me from the womb to be his slave, so that Jacob might be converted unto him. But if Israel will not be gathered, even so, yet I shall be esteemed in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.

⁶ And he said, It is a light thing that thou should be my slave to wake up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the desolations of Israel; I have also given thee for a light to the Gentiles that thou may be my saving health unto the end of the earth.

⁷ ¶ Thus has the LORD said, the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, to him whom man despises, to him whom the Gentiles abhor, to the slave of the tyrants, Kings shall see and be raised up as princes and shall worship because of the LORD, for faithful is the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen thee.

To the Overcomer, A Psalm of David.

¹ ¶ I waited patiently for the LORD, and he inclined unto me and heard my cry.

² He brought me up also out of the pit of hopelessness, out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock and straightened my steps.

³ And he has put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God; many shall see it and fear and shall wait on the LORD.

⁴ Blessed is that man that makes the LORD his trust and does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

⁵ Thou hast increased, O LORD my God, thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts regarding us; they are beyond our ability to express, declare, or speak; they cannot be told.

⁶ ¶ Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened; burnt offering and sin offering thou hast not required.

⁷ Then said I, Behold, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me,

⁸ I delight to do thy will, O my God; thy law is within my bowels.

⁹ I have preached righteousness in the great congregation; behold, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.

¹⁰ I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy truth and thy salvation; I have not concealed thy mercy and thy truth from the great congregation.

¹¹ ¶ Do not withhold thy tender mercies from me, O LORD; let thy mercy and thy truth continually preserve me.

1 ¶ Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother,

² unto the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} of God which is at Corinth, to those that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

³ Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴ I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you in Christ Jesus,

⁵ that in every thing ye are enriched in him in all word and in all knowledge,

⁶ with which the testimony of the Christ was confirmed in you,

⁷ so that ye lack nothing in any gift, waiting for the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

⁸ who shall also confirm that ye shall remain unimpeachable unto the end, in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁹ God is faithful, by whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

²⁹ ¶ The next day John saw Jesus coming unto him and said, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

³⁰ This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man who is preferred before me, for he was before me.

³¹ And I knew him not; but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.

³² And John gave testimony, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.

³³ And I knew him not; but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding on him, the same is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

³⁴ And I have seen and have given testimony that this is the Son of God.

³⁵ And again the next day John stood, and two of his disciples,

³⁶ and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said, Behold the Lamb of God!

³⁷ ¶ And the two disciples heard him speak and followed Jesus.

³⁸ Then Jesus turned and saw them following and said unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi (which is to say, being interpreted, Master), where dwellest thou?

³⁹ He said unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt and abode with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

⁴⁰ One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, brother of Simon Peter.

⁴¹ He first found his own brother Simon and said unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.

⁴² And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jonah: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.