Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
43 Unto the end, for the sons of Core, to give understanding.
2 We have heard, O God, with our ears: our fathers have declared to us, The work, thou hast wrought in their days, and in the days of old.
3 Thy hand destroyed the Gentiles, and thou plantedst them: thou didst afflict the people and cast them out.
4 For they got not the possession of the land by their own sword: neither did their own arm save them. But thy right hand and thy arm, and the light of thy countenance: because thou wast pleased with them.
5 Thou art thyself my king and my God, who commandest the saving of Jacob.
6 Through thee we will push down our enemies with the horn: and through thy name we will despise them that rise up against us.
7 For I will not trust in my bow: neither shall my sword save me.
8 But thou hast saved us from them that afflict us: and hast put them to shame that hate us.
9 In God shall we glory all the day long: and in thy name we will give praise for ever.
10 But now thou hast cast us off, and put us to shame: and thou, O God, wilt not go out with our armies.
11 Thou hast made us turn our back to our enemies: and they that hated us plundered for themselves.
12 Thou hast given us up like sheep to be eaten: thou hast scattered us among the nations.
13 Thou hast sold thy people for no price: and there was no reckoning in the exchange of them.
14 Thou hast made us a reproach to our neighbours, a scoff and derision to them that are round about us.
15 Thou hast made us a byword among the Gentiles: a shaking of the head among the people.
16 All the day long my shame is before me: and the confusion of my face hath covered me,
17 At the voice of him that reproacheth and detracteth me: at the face of the enemy and persecutor.
18 All these things have come upon us, yet we have not forgotten thee: and we have not done wickedly in they covenant.
19 And our heart hath not turned back: neither hast thou turned aside our steps from thy way.
20 For thou hast humbled us in the place of affliction: and the shadow of death hath covered us.
21 If we have forgotten the name of our God, and if we have spread forth our hands to a strange god:
22 Shall not God search out these things: for he knoweth the secrets of the heart. Because for thy sake we are killed all the day long: we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
23 Arise, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, and cast us not off to the end.
24 Why turnest thou face away? and forgettest our want and our trouble?
25 For our soul is humbled down to the dust: our belly cleaveth to the earth.
26 Arise, O Lord, help us and redeem us for thy name's sake.
6 The son honoureth the father, and the servant his master: if then I be a father, where is my honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts.
7 To you, O priests, that despise my name, and have said: Wherein have we despised thy name? You offer polluted bread upon my altar, and you say: Wherein have we polluted thee? In that you say: The table of the Lord is contemptible.
8 If you offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if you offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? offer it to thy prince, if he will be pleased with it, or if he will regard thy face, saith the Lord of hosts.
9 And now beseech ye the face of God, that he may have mercy on you, (for by your hand hath this been done,) if by any means he will receive your faces, saith the Lord of hosts.
10 Who is there among you, that will shut the doors, and will kindle the fire on my altar gratis? I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will not receive a gift of your hand.
11 For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts.
12 And you have profaned it in that you say: The table of the Lord is defiled: and that which is laid thereupon is contemptible with the fire that devoureth it.
13 And you have said: Behold of our labour, and you puffed it away, saith the Lord of hosts, and you brought in of rapine the lame, and the sick, and brought in an offering: shall I accept it at your hands, saith the Lord?
14 Cursed is the deceitful man that hath in his flock a male, and making a vow offereth in sacrifice that which is feeble to the Lord: for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the Gentiles.
2 And now, O ye priests, this commandment is to you.
2 If you will not hear, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name, saith the Lord of hosts: I will send poverty upon you, and will curse your blessings, yea I will curse them, because you have not laid it to heart.
3 Behold, I will cast the shoulder to you, and I will scatter upon your face the dung of your solemnities, and it shall take you away with it.
4 And you shall know that I sent you this commandment, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.
5 My covenant was with him of life and peace: and I gave him fear: and he feared me, and he was afraid before my name.
6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace, and in equity, and turned many away from iniquity.
7 For the lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth: because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts.
8 But you have departed out of the way, and have caused many to stumble at the law: you have made void the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.
9 Therefore have I also made you contemptible, and base before all people, as you have not kept my ways, and have accepted persons in the law.
13 But woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men, for you yourselves do not enter in; and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter.
14 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: because you devour the houses of widows, praying long prayers. For this you shall receive the greater judgment.
15 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you go round about the sea and the land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, you make him the child of hell twofold more than yourselves.
16 Woe to you blind guides, that say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but he that shall swear by the gold of the temple, is a debtor.
17 Ye foolish and blind; for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
18 And whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, is a debtor.
19 Ye blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
20 He therefore that sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things that are upon it:
21 And whosoever shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth in it:
22 And he that sweareth by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
23 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you tithe mint, and anise, and cummin, and have left the weightier things of the law; judgment, and mercy, and faith. These things you ought to have done, and not to leave those undone.
24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel.
25 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness.
26 Thou blind Pharisee, first make clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, that the outside may become clean.
27 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you are like to whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men's bones, and of all filthiness.
28 So you also outwardly indeed appear to men just; but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
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