Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God Knows Everything
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
139 Lord, you have examined me
and know all about me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I get up.
You know my thoughts before I think them.
3 You know where I go and where I lie down.
You know everything I do.
4 Lord, even before I say a word,
you already know it.
5 You are all around me—in front and in back—
and have put your hand on me.
6 Your knowledge is amazing to me;
it is more than I can understand.
13 You made my whole being;
you formed me in my mother’s body.
14 I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way.
What you have done is wonderful.
I know this very well.
15 You saw my bones being formed
as I took shape in my mother’s body.
When I was put together there,
16 you saw my body as it was formed.
All the days planned for me
were written in your book
before I was one day old.
17 God, your thoughts are precious to me.
They are so many!
18 If I could count them,
they would be more than all the grains of sand.
When I wake up,
I am still with you.
14 “People say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the people of Israel out of Egypt . . . ’ But the time is coming,” says the Lord, “when people will not say this anymore. 15 They will say instead, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites from the northern land and from all the countries where he had sent them . . . ’ And I will bring them back to the land I gave to their ancestors.
16 “I will soon send for many fishermen to come to this land,” says the Lord. “And they will catch the people of Judah. After that, I will send for many hunters to come to this land. And they will hunt the people of Judah on every mountain and hill and in the cracks of the rocks. 17 I see everything they do. They cannot hide from me the things they do; their sin is not hidden from my eyes. 18 I will pay back the people of Judah twice for every one of their sins, because they have made my land unclean. They have filled my country with their hateful idols.”
19 Lord, you are my strength and my protection,
my safe place in times of trouble.
The nations will come to you from all over the world
and say, “Our ancestors had only false gods,
useless idols that didn’t help them.
20 Can people make gods for themselves?
They will not really be gods!”
21 The Lord says, “So I will teach those who make idols.
This time I will teach them
about my power and my strength.
Then they will know
that my name is the Lord.
Judah’s Guilty Heart
17 “The sin of the people of Judah is written with an iron tool.
Their sins were cut with a hard point into the stone that is their hearts.
Their sins were cut into the corners of their altars.
2 Even their children remember
their altars to idols and their Asherah idols
beside the green trees
and on the high hills.
3 My mountain in the open country
and your wealth and treasures
I will give away to other people.
I will give away the places of worship in your country,
because you sinned by worshiping there.
4 You will lose the land I gave you,
and it is your own fault.
I will let your enemies take you as their slaves
to a land you have never known.
This is because you have made my anger burn like a hot fire,
and it will burn forever.”
News About the People with Paul
7 Tychicus is my dear brother in Christ and a faithful minister and servant with me in the Lord. He will tell you all the things that are happening to me. 8 This is why I am sending him: so you may know how we are[a] and he may encourage you. 9 I send him with Onesimus, a faithful and dear brother in Christ, and one of your group. They will tell you all that has happened here.
10 Aristarchus, a prisoner with me, and Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, greet you. (I have already told you what to do about Mark. If he comes, welcome him.) 11 Jesus, who is called Justus, also greets you. These are the only Jewish believers who work with me for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me.
12 Epaphras, a servant of Jesus Christ, from your group, also greets you. He always prays for you that you will grow to be spiritually mature and have everything God wants for you. 13 I know he has worked hard for you and the people in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. 14 Demas and our dear friend Luke, the doctor, greet you.
15 Greet the brothers and sisters in Laodicea. And greet Nympha and the church that meets in her house. 16 After this letter is read to you, be sure it is also read to the church in Laodicea. And you read the letter that I wrote to Laodicea. 17 Tell Archippus, “Be sure to finish the work the Lord gave you.”
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.