Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God the Sovereign Savior(A)
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David (B)the servant of the Lord, who spoke to the Lord the words of (C)this song on the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said:
18 I (D)will love You, O Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my [a]strength, (E)in whom I will trust;
My shield and the [b]horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I will call upon the Lord, (F)who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies.
4 (G)The pangs of death surrounded me,
And the floods of [c]ungodliness made me afraid.
5 The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called upon the Lord,
And cried out to my God;
He heard my voice from His temple,
And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.
43 You have delivered me from the strivings of the people;
(A)You have made me the head of the [a]nations;
(B)A people I have not known shall serve me.
44 As soon as they hear of me they obey me;
The foreigners [b]submit to me.
45 (C)The foreigners fade away,
And come frightened from their hideouts.
46 The Lord lives!
Blessed be my Rock!
Let the God of my salvation be exalted.
47 It is God who avenges me,
(D)And subdues the peoples under me;
48 He delivers me from my enemies.
(E)You also lift me up above those who rise against me;
You have delivered me from the violent man.
49 (F)Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the [c]Gentiles,
And sing praises to Your name.
David in Wilderness Strongholds
14 And David stayed in strongholds in the wilderness, and remained in (A)the mountains in the Wilderness of (B)Ziph. Saul (C)sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand. 15 So David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. And David was in the Wilderness of Ziph [a]in a forest. 16 Then Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David in the woods and [b]strengthened his hand in God. 17 And he said to him, (D)“Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. (E)Even my father Saul knows that.” 18 So the two of them (F)made a covenant before the Lord. And David stayed in the woods, and Jonathan went to his own house.
Collection for the Judean Saints
16 But thanks be to God who [a]puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus. 17 For he not only accepted the exhortation, but being more diligent, he went to you of his own accord. 18 And we have sent with him (A)the brother whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches, 19 and not only that, but who was also (B)chosen by the churches to travel with us with this gift, which is administered by us (C)to the glory of the Lord Himself and to show your ready mind, 20 avoiding this: that anyone should blame us in this lavish gift which is administered by us— 21 (D)providing honorable things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.
22 And we have sent with them our brother whom we have often proved diligent in many things, but now much more diligent, because of the great confidence which we have in you. 23 If anyone inquires about (E)Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker concerning you. Or if our brethren are inquired about, they are (F)messengers[b] of the churches, the glory of Christ. 24 Therefore show to them, [c]and before the churches, the proof of your love and of our (G)boasting on your behalf.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.