Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Isaiah
1 2 Isaiah reproveth the Jews of their ingratitude and stubbornness, that neither for benefits nor punishments would amend. 11 He showed why their sacrifices are rejected, and wherein God’s true service standeth. 24 He prophesieth of the destruction of Jerusalem, 25 and of the restitution thereof.
1 A [a]vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw [b]concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of [c]Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah Kings of Judah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord, O [a]princes of Sodom: hearken unto the Law of our God, O people of Gomorrah.
11 What have I to do with the multitude of your sacrifices, saith the Lord? I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and of the fat of fed beasts: and I [b]desire not the blood of bullocks, nor of lambs, nor of goats.
12 When ye come to appear before me, who required this of your hands to tread in my courts?
13 Bring no more oblations, [c]in vain: incense is an abomination unto me: I cannot suffer your new moons, nor Sabbath, nor solemn days (it is iniquity) nor solemn assemblies.
14 My soul hateth your [d]new moons and your appointed feasts: they are a burden unto me: I am weary to bear them.
15 And when you shall stretch out your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: and though ye make many prayers, I will not hear: for your hands are full [e]of blood.
16 [f]Wash you, make you clean, take away the evil of your works from before mine eyes: cease to do evil.
17 Learn to [g]do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed: judge the fatherless, and defend the widow.
18 Come now, [h]and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins were as crimson, they shall be made [i]white as snow: though they were red like scarlet, they shall be as wool,
19 If ye [j]consent and obey, ye shall eat the good things of the land.
20 But if ye refuse and be rebellious, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
50 1 Because the Church is always full of hypocrites, 8 which do imagine that God will be worshipped with outward ceremonies only without the heart: and especially the Jews were of this opinion, because of their figures and ceremonies of the Law, thinking that their sacrifices were sufficient. 21 Therefore the Prophet doth reprove this gross error, and pronounceth the Name of God to be blasphemed where holiness is set in ceremonies. 23 For he declareth the worship of God to be spiritual, whereof are two principal parts, invocation and thanksgiving.
A Psalm of [a]Asaph.
1 The God of gods, even the Lord hath spoken and called the [b]earth from the rising up of the Sun, unto the going down thereof.
2 Out of Zion, which is the [c]perfection of beauty, hath God shined.
3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: [d]a fire shall devour before him, and a mighty tempest shall be moved round about him.
4 He shall call the heaven above, and [e]the earth to judge his people.
5 Gather my [f]Saints together unto me, those that make a covenant with me with [g]sacrifice.
6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is Judge himself. Selah.
7 Hear, O my people and I will speak: hear, O Israel, and I will testify unto thee: for I am God, even thy God.
8 I will not [h]reprove thee for thy sacrifices, or thy burnt offerings, that have not been continually before me.
11 1 He declareth in the whole Chapter, that the Fathers, which from the beginning of the world were approved of God, attained salvation no other way than by faith, that the Jews may know that by the same only, they are knit unto the Fathers in an holy union.
1 Now [a]faith is the grounds of things which are hoped for, and the evidence of things which are not seen.
2 [b]For by it our [c]elders were well reported of.
3 (A)[d]Through faith we understand that the world was ordained by the word of God, so that the things which we [e]see, are not made of things which did appear.
8 [a]By faith (A)Abraham, when he was called, obeyed God, to go out into a place, which he should afterward receive for inheritance, and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
9 By faith he abode in the land of promise, as in a strange country, as one that dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob heirs with him of the same promise.
10 For he looked for a city having a [b]foundation, whose builder and maker is God.
11 Through faith (B)Sarah also received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful which had promised.
12 And therefore sprang thereof one, even of one which was [c]dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand of the sea shore which is innumerable.
13 All these died in [d]faith, and received not the [e]promises, but saw them afar off, and believed them, and [f]received them thankfully, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
14 For they that say such things, declare plainly, that they seek a country.
15 And if they had been mindful of that country, from whence they came out, they had leisure to have returned.
16 But now they desire a better, that is an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed of them to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
32 [a]Fear not, little flock: for it is your Father’s pleasure to give you the kingdom.
33 ¶ (A)[b]Sell that ye have, and give [c]alms: make you bags which wax not old: a treasure that can never fail in heaven, where no thief cometh neither moth corrupteth.
34 For where your treasure is, there will your hearts be also.
35 ¶ (B)[d]Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning,
36 And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.
37 Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh shall find waking: verily I say unto you, he will gird himself about, and make them to sit down at table, and will come forth, and serve them.
38 And if he come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and shall find them so, blessed are those servants.
39 (C)Now understand this, that if the good man of the house had known at what hour the thief would have come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be dug through.
40 [e]Be ye also prepared therefore: for the Son of man will come at an hour when ye think not.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.