Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice!
Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
8 When You said, “Seek My face,”
My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”
9 (A)Do not hide Your face from me;
Do not turn Your servant away in anger;
You have been my help;
Do not leave me nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation.
10 (B)When my father and my mother forsake me,
Then the Lord will take care of me.
11 (C)Teach me Your way, O Lord,
And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.
12 Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries;
For (D)false witnesses have risen against me,
And such as breathe out violence.
13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the Lord
(E)In the land of the living.
12 Now the Midianites and Amalekites, (A)all the people of the East, were lying in the valley (B)as numerous as locusts; and their camels were [a]without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude.
13 And when Gideon had come, there was a man telling a dream to his companion. He said, “I have had a dream: To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed.”
14 Then his companion answered and said, “This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand (C)God has delivered Midian and the whole camp.”
15 And so it was, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel, and said, “Arise, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.” 16 Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet into every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers. 17 And he said to them, “Look at me and do likewise; watch, and when I come to the edge of the camp you shall do as I do: 18 When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets on every side of the whole camp, and say, ‘The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!’ ”
19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they had posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands. 20 Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers—they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing—and they cried, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!” 21 And (D)every man stood in his place all around the camp; (E)and the whole army ran and cried out and fled. 22 When the three hundred (F)blew the trumpets, (G)the Lord set (H)every man’s sword against his companion throughout the whole camp; and the army fled to [b]Beth Acacia, toward Zererah, as far as the border of (I)Abel Meholah, by Tabbath.
Light Bearers
12 Therefore, my beloved, (A)as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, (B)work out your own salvation with (C)fear and trembling; 13 for (D)it is God who works in you both to will and to do (E)for His good pleasure.
14 Do all things (F)without [a]complaining and (G)disputing,[b] 15 that you may become blameless and [c]harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as (H)lights in the world, 16 holding fast the word of life, so that (I)I may rejoice in the day of Christ that (J)I have not run in vain or labored in (K)vain.
17 Yes, and if (L)I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice (M)and service of your faith, (N)I am glad and rejoice with you all. 18 For the same reason you also be glad and rejoice with me.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.