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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with sequential stories told across multiple weeks.
Duration: 1245 days
New King James Version (NKJV)
Version
Psalm 1

BOOK ONE

Psalms 1–41

The Way of the Righteous and the End of the Ungodly

Blessed (A)is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the [a]ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
(B)Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But (C)his delight is in the law of the Lord,
(D)And in His law he [b]meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
(E)Planted by the [c]rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall (F)prosper.

The ungodly are not so,
But are (G)like the chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For (H)the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Ecclesiastes 1

The Vanity of Life

The words of the Preacher, the son of David, (A)king in Jerusalem.

“Vanity(B)[a] of vanities,” says the Preacher;
“Vanity of vanities, (C)all is vanity.”

(D)What profit has a man from all his labor
In which he [b]toils under the sun?
One generation passes away, and another generation comes;
(E)But the earth abides forever.
(F)The sun also rises, and the sun goes down,
And [c]hastens to the place where it arose.
(G)The wind goes toward the south,
And turns around to the north;
The wind whirls about continually,
And comes again on its circuit.
(H)All the rivers run into the sea,
Yet the sea is not full;
To the place from which the rivers come,
There they return again.
All things are [d]full of labor;
Man cannot express it.
(I)The eye is not satisfied with seeing,
Nor the ear filled with hearing.

(J)That which has been is what will be,
That which is done is what will be done,
And there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there anything of which it may be said,
“See, this is new”?
It has already been in ancient times before us.
11 There is (K)no remembrance of former things,
Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come
By those who will come after.

The Grief of Wisdom

12 I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I set my heart to seek and (L)search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; (M)this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be [e]exercised. 14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

15 (N)What is crooked cannot be made straight,
And what is lacking cannot be numbered.

16 I communed with my heart, saying, “Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained (O)more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has [f]understood great wisdom and knowledge.” 17 (P)And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.

18 For (Q)in much wisdom is much grief,
And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

Matthew 23:29-39

29 (A)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and [a]adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’

31 “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that (B)you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 (C)Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. 33 Serpents, (D)brood[b] of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 34 (E)Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: (F)some of them you will kill and crucify, and (G)some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 (H)that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, (I)from the blood of righteous Abel to (J)the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Jesus Laments over Jerusalem(K)

37 (L)“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets (M)and stones those who are sent to her! How often (N)I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks (O)under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, (P)‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’

New King James Version (NKJV)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.