Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 12
To the chief Musician upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David.
1 Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth;
for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
2 They speak vanity every one with his neighbour:
with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.
3 The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips,
and the tongue that speaketh proud things:
4 who have said, With our tongue will we prevail;
our lips are our own: who is lord over us?
5 For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy,
now will I arise, saith the Lord;
I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.
6 The words of the Lord are pure words:
as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
7 Thou shalt keep them, O Lord,
thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
8 The wicked walk on every side,
when the vilest men are exalted.
17 Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith,
than an house full of sacrifices with strife.
2 A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causeth shame,
and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren.
3 The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold:
but the Lord trieth the hearts.
4 A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips;
and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue.
5 Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker:
and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.
19 For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. 20 And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; 21 to them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. 22 To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 23 And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.
KJV reproduced by permission of Cambridge University Press, the Crown’s patentee in the UK.