Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Psalm of David.

Aleph

¹ ¶ Do not be angry with the evildoers, neither be thou envious of the workers of iniquity.

² For they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb.

Beth

³ Wait in the LORD and do good; live in the land and uphold the truth.

⁴ In the same manner delight thyself in the LORD, and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart.

Gimel

⁵ Turn thy way unto the LORD and wait in him, and he shall bring it to pass.

⁶ And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy uprightness as the noonday.

Daleth

⁷ ¶ Be silent before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not be angry with him who prospers in his way, with the man who brings wicked devices to pass.

He

⁸ Cease from anger and forsake wrath: let not thy wrath in any wise cause you to become evil.

⁹ For evildoers shall be cut off; but those that wait for the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.

18 ¶ Now it came to pass in the third year of Hosea, son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.

² He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.

³ And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David, his father, did.

⁴ He removed the high places and broke the images and cut down the groves and broke in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made; for unto those days, the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan. {Heb. a thing of brass}

⁵ He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that neither after him nor before was there any like him among all the kings of Judah.

⁶ For he cleaved unto the LORD and did not depart from following him, but kept his commandments which the LORD commanded Moses.

⁷ And the LORD was with him, and he prospered in all things in which he went forth; and he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.

⁸ He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza and the borders thereof, from the towers of the watchmen to the fenced city.

²⁸ Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language and spoke, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria.

²⁹ Thus hath the king said, Let not Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you out of my hand.

³⁰ Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

³¹ Do not hearken unto Hezekiah, for thus saith the king of Assyria, Give me a blessing and come out to me, and then each one of you shall eat of their own vine and of their own fig tree, and each one shall drink the waters of their own well,

³² until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olives, of oil, and of honey, that ye may live, and not die. Do not hearken unto Hezekiah, for he deceives you, saying, The LORD will deliver us.

³³ Peradventure have any of the gods of the Gentiles delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

³⁴ Where is the god of Hamath and of Arpad? Where is the god of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and of Ivah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?

³⁵ What god out of all the gods of the lands has delivered their land out of my hand that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?

³⁶ But the people remained silent and did not answer him a word, for the king had commanded, saying, Do not answer him.

⁸ ¶ And unto the angel of the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} of Smyrna write: These things, saith the first and the last, who was dead, and is alive:

⁹ I know thy works and tribulation and poverty, (but thou art rich), and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

¹⁰ Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer; behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days; be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life.

¹¹ He that has an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the congregations; {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} He that overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.