Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Aleph

1 ¶ How does the city sit solitary, that was full of people! The great one among the nations is become as a widow; the princess of provinces is become tributary.

Beth

² She weeps sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they are become her enemies.

Gimel

³ Judah is gone into captivity because of the affliction and because of the greatness of the servitude; she dwells among the Gentiles; she finds no rest; all her persecutors overtook her between the straits.

Daleth

⁴ The streets of Zion mourn because there are none to come to the solemnities; all her gates are destroyed; her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.

He

⁵ Her enemies have been made the head; those who hated her have been prospered; for the LORD has afflicted her for the multitude of her rebellions; her children are gone into captivity before the enemy.

Vau

⁶ And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed; her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer.

Zain

¹⁹ Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.

Zain

²⁰ My soul shall have them still in remembrance because it is humbled in me.

Zain

²¹ ¶ This shall go down into my heart; therefore I shall wait.

Cheth

²² It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed because his mercies never diminish.

Cheth

²³ They are new every morning; great is thy faith.

Cheth

²⁴ The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore I will wait for him.

Teth

²⁵ The LORD is good unto those that wait in him, to the soul that seeks him.

Teth

²⁶ It is good to wait quietly in the salvation of the LORD.

¹ ¶ By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

² We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof;

³ when there, those that carried us away captive asked us for the words of the song; with our harps of joy hung upon the willows saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

⁴ How shall we sing the song of the LORD in the land of strangers?

⁵ If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, my right hand shall be forgotten.

⁶ If I do not remember thee, my tongue shall cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I do not prefer to lift up Jerusalem as my chief joy.

⁷ ¶ Remember, O LORD, the sons of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof.

⁸ O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewards thee as thou hast served us.

⁹ Happy shall he be, that takes and dashes thy offspring against the stones.

1 ¶ Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,

² to Timothy, dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace of God the Father and of Christ Jesus our Lord.

³ I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with a pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day,

⁴ greatly desiring to see thee (being mindful of thy tears), that I may be filled with joy,

⁵ when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also.

⁶ ¶ Therefore I admonish thee that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.

⁷ For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of strength and of love and of temperance.

⁸ Therefore be not thou ashamed to give testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel by the power of God,

⁹ who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the times of the ages,

¹⁰ but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has annulled death, and has brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel,

¹¹ unto which I am appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles.

¹² For which cause I also suffer these things; nevertheless, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

¹³ Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and charity which is in Christ Jesus.

¹⁴ Keep the good deposit committed unto thee by the Holy Spirit which dwells in us.

⁵ And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.

⁶ And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamore tree, Pluck thyself up by the root, and plant thyself in the sea, and it would obey you.

⁷ But which of you, having a slave plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by when he is come from the field, Go and sit down at the table?

⁸ And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup and gird thyself and serve me until I have eaten and drunken, and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?

⁹ Does he thank that slave because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not.

¹⁰ So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable slaves: we have done that which was our duty to do.