Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 139
The All-Knowing, Ever-Present God
For the choir director. A psalm of David.
1 Lord, you have searched me and known me.(A)
2 You know when I sit down and when I stand up;
you understand my thoughts from far away.(B)
3 You observe my travels and my rest;
you are aware of all my ways.(C)
4 Before a word is on my tongue,
you know all about it, Lord.(D)
5 You have encircled me;
you have placed your hand on me.(E)
6 This wondrous knowledge is beyond me.
It is lofty; I am unable to reach it.(F)
7 Where can I go to escape your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?(G)
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;(H)
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.(I)
9 If I fly on the wings of the dawn
and settle down on the western horizon,[a]
10 even there your hand will lead me;
your right hand will hold on to me.(J)
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me,
and the light around me will be night”(K)—
12 even the darkness is not dark to you.
The night shines like the day;
darkness and light are alike to you.(L)
Israel’s Restoration to God
21 “I will display my glory among the nations,(A) and all the nations will see the judgment I have executed and the hand I have laid on them. 22 From that day forward the house of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God. 23 And the nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile on account of their iniquity, because they dealt unfaithfully with me.(B) Therefore, I hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies, so that they all fell by the sword. 24 I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and transgressions, and I hid my face from them.
25 “So this is what the Lord God says: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob(C) and have compassion on the whole house of Israel,(D) and I will be jealous for my holy name. 26 They will feel remorse for[a][b] their disgrace(E) and all the unfaithfulness they committed against me, when they live securely in their land with no one to frighten them. 27 When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the countries of their enemies, I will demonstrate my holiness through them in the sight of many nations.(F) 28 They will know that I am the Lord their God when I regather them to their own land after having exiled them among the nations. I will leave none of them behind.[c] 29 I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel.”(G) This is the declaration of the Lord God.
Inheriting the Promise
13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater to swear by, he swore by himself: 14 I will indeed bless you, and I will greatly multiply you.[a](A) 15 And so, after waiting patiently, Abraham obtained the promise. 16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and for them a confirming oath ends every dispute. 17 Because God wanted to show his unchangeable purpose even more clearly to the heirs of the promise, he guaranteed it with an oath,(B) 18 so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us.(C) 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.(D) 20 Jesus has entered there on our behalf as a forerunner,(E) because he has become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.(F)
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