Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Call to Worship the Lord the Righteous Judge.
96 (A)Sing to the Lord a (B)new song;
Sing to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing to the Lord, bless His name;
(C)Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day.
3 Tell of (D)His glory among the nations,
His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.
4 For (E)great is the Lord and (F)greatly to be praised;
He is to be (G)feared (H)above all gods.
5 For (I)all the gods of the peoples are [a]idols,
But (J)the Lord made the heavens.
6 (K)Splendor and majesty are before Him,
Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
10 Say among the nations, “(A)The Lord reigns;
Indeed, the (B)world is firmly established, it will not be moved;
He will (C)judge the peoples with [a]equity.”
11 Let the (D)heavens be glad, and let the (E)earth rejoice;
Let (F)the sea [b]roar, and [c]all it contains;
12 Let the (G)field exult, and all that is in it.
Then all the (H)trees of the forest will sing for joy
13 Before the Lord, (I)for He is coming,
For He is coming to judge the earth.
(J)He will judge the world in righteousness
And the peoples in His faithfulness.
3 And it will be in the day when the Lord gives you (A)rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in which you have been enslaved, 4 that you will (B)take up this [a]taunt against the king of Babylon, and say,
“How (C)the oppressor has ceased,
And how [b]fury has ceased!
5 “The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
The scepter of rulers
6 (D)Which used to strike the peoples in fury with unceasing strokes,
Which [c]subdued the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution.
7 “The whole earth is at rest and is quiet;
They (E)break forth into shouts of joy.
8 “Even the (F)cypress trees rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you were laid low, no tree cutter comes up against us.’
9 “(G)Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come;
It arouses for you the [d]spirits of the dead, all the [e]leaders of the earth;
It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones.
10 “(H)They will all respond and say to you,
‘Even you have been made weak as we,
You have become like us.
11 ‘Your (I)pomp and the music of your harps
Have been brought down to Sheol;
Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you
And worms are your covering.’
John the Baptist Beheaded
14 (A)At that [a]time (B)Herod the tetrarch heard the news about Jesus, 2 and said to his servants, “(C)This is John the Baptist; [b]he has risen from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”
3 For when (D)Herod had John arrested, he bound him and put him (E)in prison because of (F)Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. 4 For John had been saying to him, “(G)It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5 Although Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded [c]John as (H)a prophet.
6 But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of (I)Herodias danced [d]before them and pleased (J)Herod, 7 so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. 8 Having been prompted by her mother, she *said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” 9 Although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths, and because of [e]his dinner guests. 10 He sent and had John beheaded in the prison. 11 And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. 12 His disciples came and took away the body and buried [f]it; and they went and reported to Jesus.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.