Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Psalm of David.

¹ ¶ I will sing of mercy and judgment; unto thee, O LORD, will I sing.

² When thou shalt come unto me, I will walk in the way of perfection and understand. I will walk in the midst of my house in the perfection of my heart.

³ I will set nothing of Belial before my eyes: I hate the work of those that betray; it shall not cleave to me.

⁴ A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not know a wicked person.

⁵ Whosoever secretly slanders his neighbour, I will cut off; he that has a high look and a proud heart I will not suffer.

⁶ My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he that walks in the way of perfection, he shall serve me.

⁷ He that works deceit shall not dwell within my house; he that tells lies shall not tarry in my sight.

⁸ I will early destroy all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off all the workers of iniquity from the city of the LORD.

²⁴ ¶ And the king of Assyria brought Gentiles from Babylon and from Cuthah and from Ava and from Hamath and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the sons of Israel; and they possessed Samaria and dwelt in the cities thereof.

²⁵ And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there that they did not fear the LORD; therefore, the LORD sent lions against them, which slew some of them.

²⁶ Therefore, they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, The Gentiles, which thou hast removed and placed in the cities of Samaria, do not know the judgment of the God of that land; therefore, he has sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them because they do not know the judgment of the God of the land.

²⁷ Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry there one of the priests whom ye brought from there; and let them go and dwell there and teach them the judgment of the God of the land.

²⁸ Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the LORD.

²⁹ However each nation made gods of their own and put them in the houses of the high places which those of Samaria had made, each nation in their city in which they dwelt.

³⁰ And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,

³¹ and the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

³² So they feared the LORD and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.

³³ They feared the LORD and served their own gods after the manner of the gentiles whom they carried away from there.

³⁴ Unto this day they do after the former manners; they do not fear the LORD, neither do they keep his statutes nor his ordinances nor the law and the commandments which the LORD commanded the sons of Jacob, whom he named Israel,

³⁵ with whom the LORD had made a covenant and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor worship them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them,

³⁶ but only the LORD your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice.

³⁷ And the statutes and rights and the law and the commandments, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do every day; and ye shall not fear other gods.

³⁸ And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods.

³⁹ But the LORD your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.

⁴⁰ Howbeit they did not hearken; to the contrary they did after their former manner.

⁴¹ So these Gentiles feared the LORD and served their graven images, and likewise their sons and their grandsons; as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.

¹⁴ ¶ These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly

¹⁵ But if I tarry long, that thou may know how it is expedient to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth.

¹⁶ And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

4 ¶ Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, listening to spirits of error and doctrines of demons;

² that in hypocrisy shall speak lies; having their conscience seared as with a hot iron;

³ they shall forbid to marry and shall command men to abstain from foods, which God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who are faithful and have known the truth.

⁴ For everything that God created is good, and nothing is to be refused, if it is received with thanksgiving,

⁵ for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.