Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

To the Overcomer: for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth.

¹ ¶ God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in tribulation.

² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea,

³ though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the violence thereof. Selah.

⁴ There is a river, the streams of which shall make glad the city of God, the sanctuary of the tents of the most High.

⁵ God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God shall help her, as the morning dawns.

⁶ ¶ The Gentiles raged, the kingdoms were moved; he uttered his voice, the earth melted.

⁷ The LORD of the hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

⁸ Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he has made in the earth.

⁹ He makes wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and cuts the spear in sunder; he burns the chariot in the fire.

¹⁰ Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted in the Gentiles, I will be exalted in the earth.

¹¹ The LORD of the hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

11 ¶ Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.

² Howl, fir tree, for the cedar is fallen because the magnificent are cut down; howl, O ye oaks of Bashan, for the strong mountain is brought down.

³ There is a voice of the howling of the pastors; for their magnificence is destroyed; a voice of the roaring of young lions, for the pride of the Jordan is destroyed.

⁴ ¶ Thus hath the LORD my God said, Feed the flock of the slaughter,

⁵ whose buyers slayed them and held themselves not guilty; and he that sold them said, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and not even their own shepherds had compassion on them.

⁶ Therefore I will no longer pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD; but, behold, I will deliver the men each one into his neighbour’s hand and into the hand of his king; and they shall smite the land, and I will not deliver them out of their hands.

⁷ And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. For I took unto me two staves: the one I named Beauty, and the other Bands; and I fed the flock.

⁸ I also cut off three shepherds in one month; and my soul was in anguish for them, and their soul also abhorred me.

⁹ Then I said, I will not feed you any longer; the one that dies, let it die; and the one that is to be lost, let it be lost; and let the rest eat each one the flesh of another.

¹⁰ And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples.

¹¹ And it was broken in that day; and so the poor of the flock that look unto me knew that it was the word of the LORD.

¹² And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my wages; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver.

¹³ And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the treasury: a goodly price that I was appraised at by them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them in the house of the LORD unto the treasury.

¹⁴ Then I cut asunder my other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵ ¶ And the LORD said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.

¹⁶ For, behold, I raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that are lost, neither shall seek the young one nor heal the one that is broken nor carry the one that is tired, but he shall eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hoofs in pieces.

¹⁷ Woe to the useless pastor that leaves the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm and upon his right eye; his arm shall be completely dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.

³ ¶ Praised be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, the Christ, who according to his great mercy has begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus, the Christ, from the dead,

⁴ unto the incorruptible inheritance that cannot be defiled and that does not fade away, conserved in the heavens for you,

⁵ who are kept in the virtue of God by faith, to attain unto the saving health which is made ready to be manifested in the last time.

⁶ ¶ In which ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are afflicted in diverse temptations,

⁷ that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold (which perishes, nevertheless it is tried with fire), might be found unto praise and glory and honour when Jesus, the Christ, is made manifest;

⁸ whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though at present ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory;

⁹ receiving the end of your faith, even the saving health of your souls.