Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 12
For the worship leader. A song of David accompanied by the lyre.[a]
1 Help me, O Eternal One, for I can’t find anyone who follows You.
The faithful have fallen out of sight.
2 Everyone tells lies through sweet-talking lips
and speaks from a hollow and deceptive heart.
3 May the Eternal silence all sweet-talking lips,
stop all boasting tongues,
4 Of those who say, “With our words we will win;
our lips are our own. Who is the master of our souls?”
5 “I will rise up,” says the Eternal,
“because the poor are being trampled, and the needy groan for My saving help.
I will lift them up to the safety they long for.”
6 The promises of the Eternal, they are true, they are pure—
like silver refined in a furnace,
purified seven times, they will be without impurity.
7 You, O Eternal, will be their protector.
You will keep them safe from those around them forever.
8 All around, those who are wicked parade—proud and arrogant—and people applaud their emptiness.
10 Wicked people delight in doing bad things;
their neighbors never see even a hint of compassion.
11 A naive person wises up when he sees a mocker punished.
A wise person becomes even wiser just by being instructed.
12 The right-living understands how evildoers operate;
he subverts them and ruins their plans.
13 If you ignore the groans of the poor,
one day your own cries for help will go unanswered.
14 A gift given in secret soothes anger,
and a present offered privately calms fierce rage.
15 When justice is done, those who are in the right celebrate,
but those who make trouble are terrified.
16 People who wander from the way of wise living
will lie down in the company of corpses.
45 Jesus turned to His disciples, speaking loudly enough for the others to hear.
Jesus: 46 Beware of the religious scholars. They like to parade around in long robes. They love being greeted in the marketplaces. They love taking the best seats in the synagogues. They adore being seated around the head table at banquets. 47 But in their greed they rob widows of their houses and cover up their greed with long pretentious prayers. Their condemnation will be all the worse because of their hypocrisy.
21 And then He turned His attention from the religious scholars to some wealthy people who were depositing their donations in the offering boxes. 2 A widow, obviously poor, came up and dropped two copper coins in one of the boxes.
Jesus: 3 I’m telling you the truth, this poor widow has made a bigger contribution than all of those rich fellows. 4 They’re just giving from their surplus, but she is giving from her poverty—she’s giving all she has to give.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.