Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
7 O Lord, hear my voice when I cry out;
be merciful to me and answer me.
8 My heart[a] says of you,
“Seek his face.”
It is your face, O Lord, that I seek;
9 do not hide your face[b] from me.
Do not turn away your servant in anger,
you who have been my help.
Do not reject or forsake me,
O God, my Savior.
10 Even if my father and mother abandon me,
the Lord will gather me up.[c]
11 Teach me your way,[d] O Lord,
and lead me along a level path
because of my enemies.
12 Do not abandon me to the will of my adversaries,
for lying witnesses have risen against me,
breathing forth violence in their malice.
13 I am confident that I will behold the goodness of the Lord[e]
in the land of the living.
14 Place your hope in the Lord:
be strong and courageous in your heart,
and place your hope in the Lord.
11 The angel came and sat under the oak in Ophrah[a] that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. It was there that Gideon, his son, was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide his activities from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared, he said, “The Lord is with you, O mighty warrior.” 13 Gideon said to him, “O my Lord, if the Lord is with us, then why has all of this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us into the hands of the Midianites.” 14 The Lord looked at him and said, “Go in your might and rescue Israel out of the hands of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” 15 But he said to him, “O Lord, how can I save Israel. My clan is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s household.” 16 The Lord said to him, “I will be with you,[b] and you will strike down the Midianites as if they were only one man.” 17 He answered him, “If I truly have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you speaking to me. 18 Please do not leave here until I return to you, bringing my offering that I will set before you.” He said, “I will wait here until you come back.”
19 Gideon went off and prepared a kid goat and unleavened bread made from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to lay them down under the oak, presenting them to him. 20 The angel of God said, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, then pour out the broth.” He did these things. 21 The angel of the Lord stretched forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, touching the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire rose up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.
22 When Gideon realized that it had been the angel of the Lord, he said, “Alas, O Lord God, for now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” 23 But the angel of the Lord said to him, “Peace be with you. Do not be afraid; you will not die.” 24 Then Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it, “The Lord is peace.” It is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites up to the present.
6 Let no one deceive you with worthless arguments. These are the very things that bring down the wrath of God on those who are disobedient. 7 Do not associate with them.
Christians Are Children of Light. 8 Once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, 9 for light produces all goodness and righteousness and truth. 10 Discern what the Lord finds pleasing. 11 Take no part in the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather seek to expose them.
12 For it is shameful even to speak of what deeds people do in secret. 13 However, everything that is exposed by the light is made visible, 14 and whatever is made visible is light. Therefore, it is said,[a]
“Awake, O sleeper!
Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
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