Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

¹ ¶ O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee; my soul thirsts for thee; my flesh longs for thee in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water;

² in this manner I beheld thee in holiness when I beheld thy power and thy glory.

³ ¶ Because thy mercy is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.

⁴ Thus will I bless thee in my life; in thy name shall I lift up my hands.

⁵ My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips

⁶ When I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night watches.

⁷ ¶ Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.

⁸ My soul has followed hard after thee; thy right hand has upheld me.

¹⁹ ¶ Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; therefore he spoke, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was customary to be heated.

²⁰ And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.

²¹ Then these men were bound in their coats, their undergarments, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

²² Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

²³ And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

²⁴ Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste and spoke and said unto his counsellors, Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.

²⁵ He answered and said, Behold, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.

²⁶ Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth and come here. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire.

²⁷ And the great ones, the governors and the captains and the king’s counsellors gathered together to see these men upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was a hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.

²⁸ ¶ Then Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said, Blessed be the God of these, of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants that trusted in him and have changed the king’s word and yielded their bodies that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God

²⁹ Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, or language which speak blasphemy against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill because there is no other god that can deliver after this sort.

³⁰ Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon.

⁸ ¶ And unto the angel of the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} of Smyrna write: These things, saith the first and the last, who was dead, and is alive:

⁹ I know thy works and tribulation and poverty, (but thou art rich), and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

¹⁰ Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer; behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days; be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life.

¹¹ He that has an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the congregations; {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} He that overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.