Lectionary 27, Year C

Chapter 1

¹ The revelation which Habakkuk the prophet saw. ² O LORD, how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you “Violence!” and will you not save? ³ Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up. ⁴ Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails; for the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted.

Chapter 2

¹ I will stand at my watch, and set myself on the ramparts, and will look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint. ² The LORD answered me, “Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it. ³ For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won’t prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it; because it will surely come. It won’t delay. ⁴ Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith.

¹ Don’t fret because of evildoers, neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness. ² For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither like the green herb. ³ Trust in the LORD, and do good. Dwell in the land, and enjoy safe pasture. ⁴ Also delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. ⁵ Commit your way to the LORD. Trust also in him, and he will do this: ⁶ he will make your righteousness shine out like light, and your justice as the noon day sun. ⁷ Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him. Don’t fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who makes wicked plots happen. ⁸ Cease from anger, and forsake wrath. Don’t fret; it leads only to evildoing. ⁹ For evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.

¹ Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, according to the promise of the life which is in Christ Jesus, ² to Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. ³ I thank God, whom I serve as my forefathers did, with a pure conscience. How unceasing is my memory of you in my petitions, night and day ⁴ longing to see you, remembering your tears, that I may be filled with joy; ⁵ having been reminded of the sincere faith that is in you, which lived first in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and, I am persuaded, in you also. ⁶ For this cause, I remind you that you should stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. ⁷ For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control. ⁸ Therefore don’t be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner; but endure hardship for the Good News according to the power of God, ⁹ who 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 to us in Christ Jesus before times eternal, ¹⁰ but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the Good News. ¹¹ For this I was appointed as a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. ¹² For this cause I also suffer these things. Yet I am not ashamed, for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed to him against that day. ¹³ Hold the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴ That good thing which was committed to you, guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.