Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A miktam [a] by David.
16 Protect me, O God, because I take refuge in you.
2 I said to the Lord,
“You are my Lord. Without you, I have nothing good.”
3 Those who lead holy lives on earth
are the noble ones who fill me with joy.
4 Those who quickly chase after other gods multiply their sorrows.
I will not pour out their sacrificial offerings of blood
or use my lips to speak their names.
5 The Lord is my inheritance and my cup.
You are the one who determines my destiny.
6 Your boundary lines mark out pleasant places for me.
Indeed, my inheritance is something beautiful.
7 I will praise the Lord, who advises me.
My conscience warns me at night.
8 I always keep the Lord in front of me.
When he is by my side, I cannot be moved.
9 That is why my heart is glad and my soul rejoices.
My body rests securely
10 because you do not abandon my soul to the grave
or allow your holy one to decay.
11 You make the path of life known to me.
Complete joy is in your presence.
Pleasures are by your side forever.
[ THE CHORUS OF YOUNG WOMEN ]
9 Most beautiful of women,
what makes your beloved better than any other beloved?
What makes your beloved better than any other beloved
that you make us swear this way?
[ BRIDE ]
10 My beloved is dazzling yet ruddy.
He stands out among 10,000 men.
11 His head is the finest gold.
His hair is wavy, black as a raven.
12 His eyes are set like doves bathing in milk.
13 His cheeks are like a garden of spices,
a garden that produces scented herbs.
His lips are lilies that drip with myrrh.
14 His hands are disks of gold set with emerald.
His chest is a block of ivory covered with sapphires.
15 His legs are columns of marble set on bases of pure gold.
His form is like Lebanon, choice as the cedars.
16 His mouth is sweet in every way.
Everything about him is desirable!
This is my beloved, and this is my friend, young women of Jerusalem.
[ THE CHORUS OF YOUNG WOMEN ]
6 Where did your beloved go, most beautiful of women?
Where did your beloved turn?
We will look for him with you.
[ BRIDE ]
2 My beloved went to his garden,
to the beds of spices,
to graze his flock in the gardens and gather lilies.
3 I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.
He is the one who grazes his flock among the lilies.
Jesus Came Back to Life
15 Brothers and sisters, I’m making known to you the Good News which I already told you, which you received, and on which your faith is based. 2 In addition, you are saved by this Good News if you hold on to the doctrine I taught you, unless you believed it without thinking it over. 3 I passed on to you the most important points of doctrine that I had received:
Christ died to take away our sins as the Scriptures predicted.
4 He was placed in a tomb.
He was brought back to life on the third day as the Scriptures predicted.
5 He appeared to Cephas.[a] Next he appeared to the twelve apostles. 6 Then he appeared to more than 500 believers at one time. (Most of these people are still living, but some have died.) 7 Next he appeared to James. Then he appeared to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, he also appeared to me.
I’m like an aborted child ⌞who was given life⌟. 9 I’m the least of the apostles. I’m not even fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted God’s church. 10 But God’s kindness [b] made me what I am, and that kindness was not wasted on me. Instead, I worked harder than all the others. It was not I who did it, but God’s kindness was with me. 11 So, whether it was I or someone else, this is the message we brought you, and this is what you believed.
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