Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Song of degrees.

¹ ¶ Unto thee I lift up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.

² Behold, as the eyes of slaves look unto the hand of their masters and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until he shall have mercy upon us.

³ Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us, for we are exceedingly weary of being held in contempt.

⁴ Our soul is exceedingly weary of the scorning of those that are at ease and of the contempt of the proud.

20 ¶ Then Zophar, the Naamathite, answered and said,

² My thoughts certainly cause me to answer, and therefore, I make haste.

³ I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my intelligence causes me to answer.

⁴ Dost thou not know this that always was, since man was placed upon earth,

⁵ that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?

⁶ Though his excellency mounts up to the heavens, and his head reaches unto the clouds,

⁷ yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung; those who have seen him shall say, What is become of him?

⁸ He shall fly away as a dream and shall not be found: yea, he shall flee away as a vision of the night.

⁹ The eye which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place behold him any more.

¹⁰ ¶ His poor sons shall go forth begging, and their hands shall restore that which he stole.

¹¹ His bones are full of the sins of his youth, which shall be buried with him in the dust.

¹⁶ ¶ For we have not made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, following cunningly devised fables, but as eyewitnesses of his majesty.

¹⁷ For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

¹⁸ And we heard this voice which came from heaven, when we were together with him in the holy mount.

¹⁹ ¶ We have also the most sure word of the prophets, unto which ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts,

²⁰ understanding this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

²¹ For the prophecy did not come in times past by the will of man, but the holy men of God spoke being inspired by the Holy Spirit.