Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

To the Overcomer upon, Do not destroy, A Psalm or Song of Asaph.

¹ ¶ Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks, for that thy name is near, thy wondrous works declare.

² When I shall receive the congregation, I will judge uprightly.

³ The earth and all its inhabitants are dissolved; I bore up the pillars of it. Selah.

⁴ I said unto the fools, Do not deal foolishly and to the wicked, Do not lift up the horn:

⁵ Do not lift up your horn on high; speak not with a stiff neck.

⁶ ¶ For promotion comes neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert.

⁷ But God is the judge; he puts down one and sets up another.

⁸ For the cup is in the hand of the LORD, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he pours out of the same; yea, the dregs thereof, shall wring out and swallow up all the wicked of the earth.

⁹ But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.

¹⁰ And I will cut off all the horns of the wicked, but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.

3 ¶ Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!

² She did not obey the voice; she did not receive correction; she did not trust in the LORD; she did not draw near to her God.

³ Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they do not leave a bone for tomorrow.

⁴ Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary; they have falsified the law.

⁵ The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: each morning he shall bring his judgment to light; he never fails; but the unjust know no shame.

⁶ I have caused the Gentiles to be cut off: their castles are desolate; I made their streets waste until no one passes by; their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man left, there is no inhabitant.

⁷ Saying, Surely now thou wilt fear me; thou wilt receive chastisement; so thy dwelling shall not be thrown down, all of which I visited upon her; but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings.

⁸ ¶ Therefore wait for me, said the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for my judgment is to gather the Gentiles, that I may assemble the kingdoms to pour upon them my indignation, even all my fierce anger; for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.

⁹ For then I will restore to the peoples the pure language that they may all call upon the name of the LORD to serve him with one consent.

¹⁰ From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring me an offering.

¹¹ In that day thou shalt not be ashamed for any of thy doings, in which thou hast rebelled against me, for then I will take away out of the midst of thee those that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no longer be haughty because of the mountain of my holiness.

¹² I will also leave in the midst of thee a poor and humble people, and they shall wait in the name of the LORD.

¹³ The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth, for they shall be fed and lie down, and no one shall make them afraid.

²¹ ¶ Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, have ye not heard the law?

²² For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.

²³ But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, but he of the freewoman was born through the promise.

²⁴ Which things are an allegory; for these women are the two covenants: the one from the Mount Sinai, which begat unto slavery, which is Hagar.

²⁵ For this Hagar or Sinai is a mount in Arabia, which corresponds to the one that is now Jerusalem, which together with her children is in slavery.

²⁶ But the Jerusalem of above is free, which is the mother of us all.

²⁷ For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth into praise and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband.

²⁸ So that we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.

²⁹ But as then he that was born according to the flesh persecuted him that was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now.

³⁰ Nevertheless what does the scripture say? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.

³¹ So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

5 ¶ Stand fast therefore in the liberty with which Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with the yoke of slavery.