Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The Lord an Abundant Helper.
146 [a]Praise [b]the Lord!
(A)Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2 I will praise the Lord (B)while I live;
I will (C)sing praises to my God while I have my being.
3 (D)Do not trust in princes,
In [c]mortal (E)man, in whom there is (F)no salvation.
4 His (G)spirit departs, he (H)returns to [d]the earth;
In that very day his (I)thoughts perish.
5 How (J)blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
Whose (K)hope is in the Lord his God,
6 Who (L)made heaven and earth,
The (M)sea and all that is in them;
Who (N)keeps [e]faith forever;
7 Who (O)executes justice for the oppressed;
Who (P)gives food to the hungry.
The Lord (Q)sets the prisoners free.
8 The Lord (R)opens the eyes of the blind;
The Lord (S)raises up those who are bowed down;
The Lord (T)loves the righteous;
9 The Lord [f](U)protects the [g]strangers;
He [h](V)supports the fatherless and the widow,
But He [i]thwarts (W)the way of the wicked.
10 The Lord will (X)reign forever,
Your God, O Zion, to all generations.
[j]Praise [k]the Lord!
2 The rich and the poor [a]have a common bond,
The Lord is the (A)maker of them all.
3 The (B)prudent sees the evil and hides himself,
But the [b]naive go on, and are punished for it.
4 The reward of humility and the [c]fear of the Lord
Are riches, honor and life.
5 (C)Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse;
He who guards himself will be far from them.
6 (D)Train up a child [d]in the way he should go,
Even when he is old he will not depart from it.
7 The (E)rich rules over the poor,
And the borrower becomes the lender’s slave.
8 He who (F)sows iniquity will reap vanity,
And the (G)rod of his fury will perish.
9 He who [e]is (H)generous will be blessed,
For he (I)gives some of his food to the poor.
10 (J)Drive out the scoffer, and contention will go out,
Even strife and dishonor will cease.
11 He who loves (K)purity of heart
And [f]whose speech is (L)gracious, the king is his friend.
12 The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge,
But He overthrows the words of the treacherous man.
13 The (M)sluggard says, “There is a lion outside;
I will be killed in the streets!”
14 The mouth of [g](N)an adulteress is a deep pit;
He who is (O)cursed of the Lord will fall [h]into it.
15 Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child;
The (P)rod of discipline will remove it far from him.
16 He (Q)who oppresses the poor to make [i]more for himself
Or who gives to the rich, (R)will only come to poverty.
8 I (A)am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also. 9 For you know (B)the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that (C)though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. 10 I (D)give my opinion in this matter, for this is to your advantage, who were the first to begin (E)a year ago not only to do this, but also to desire to do it. 11 But now finish [a]doing it also, so that just as there was the (F)readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it by your ability. 12 For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable (G)according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. 13 For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality— 14 at this present time your abundance being a supply for (H)their need, so that their abundance also may become a supply for (I)your need, that there may be equality; 15 as it is written, “(J)He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little had no lack.”
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.