Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Song for the King’s Wedding
For the director of music. To the tune of “Lilies.” A maskil. A love song of the sons of Korah.
45 Beautiful words fill my mind.
I am speaking of royal things.
My tongue is like the pen of a skilled writer.
2 You are more handsome than anyone,
and you are an excellent speaker,
so God has blessed you forever.
6 God, your throne will last forever and ever.
You will rule your kingdom with fairness.
7 You love right and hate evil,
so God has chosen you from among your friends;
he has set you apart with much joy.
8 Your clothes smell like myrrh, aloes, and cassia.
From palaces of ivory
music comes to make you happy.
9 Kings’ daughters are among your honored women.
Your bride stands at your right side
wearing gold from Ophir.
Hosea Buys a Wife
3 The Lord said to me again, “Go, show your love to a woman loved by someone else, who has been unfaithful to you. In the same way the Lord loves the people of Israel, even though they worship other gods and love to eat the raisin cakes.”[a]
2 So I bought her for six ounces of silver and ten bushels of barley. 3 Then I told her, “You must wait for me for many days. You must not be a prostitute, and you must not have sexual relations with any other man. I will act the same way toward you.”
4 In the same way Israel will live many days without a king or leader, without sacrifices or holy stone pillars, and without the holy vest or an idol. 5 After this, the people of Israel will return to the Lord their God and follow him and the king from David’s family. In the last days they will turn in fear to the Lord, and he will bless them.
Jesus Is Brought Before Pilate
28 Early in the morning they led Jesus from Caiaphas’s house to the Roman governor’s palace. They would not go inside the palace, because they did not want to make themselves unclean;[a] they wanted to eat the Passover meal. 29 So Pilate went outside to them and asked, “What charges do you bring against this man?”
30 They answered, “If he were not a criminal, we wouldn’t have brought him to you.”
31 Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”
“But we are not allowed to put anyone to death,” the Jews answered. 32 (This happened so that what Jesus said about how he would die would come true.)
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.