Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
138 (0) By David:
(1) I give you thanks with all my heart.
Not to idols, but to you I sing praise.
2 I bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name for your grace and truth;
for you have made your word [even] greater
than the whole of your reputation.
3 When I called, you answered me,
you made me bold and strong.
4 All the kings of the earth will thank you, Adonai,
when they hear the words you have spoken.
5 They will sing about Adonai’s ways,
“Great is the glory of Adonai!”
6 For though Adonai is high, he cares for the lowly;
while the proud he perceives from afar.
7 You keep me alive when surrounded by danger;
you put out your hand when my enemies rage;
with your right hand you save me.
8 Adonai will fulfill his purpose for me.
Your grace, Adonai, continues forever.
Don’t abandon the work of your hands!
15 “Here is what Adonai Elohim says:
‘On the day he descended to Sh’ol,
I caused the abyss to mourn
and cover itself for him;
I held back its rivers,
so that its deep waters were stopped.
I made the L’vanon mourn for him,
and all the field trees withered because of him.
16 At the sound of his fall
I made the nations shake,
when I hurled him down to Sh’ol
with those who descend to the pit.
All the trees of ‘Eden,
the pick of the best in the L’vanon,
all that take up water,
were consoled in the underworld.
17 They descended with him to Sh’ol
to those who were killed by the sword,
to those who were his fighting arm,
those among the nations who lived in his shade.
18 Which of the trees of ‘Eden
was your equal in glory or size?
Yet you will be brought down to the underworld
along with the trees of ‘Eden.
You will lie there among the uncircumcised,
with those killed by the sword.
This is Pharaoh and his hordes,’
says Adonai Elohim.”
12 We don’t dare class or compare ourselves with some of the people who advertise themselves. In measuring themselves against each other and comparing themselves with each other, they are simply stupid. 13 We will not boast about what lies outside the area of work which God has given us; rather, we will boast within our assigned area, and that area does reach as far as you. 14 We are not overextending our boasting as if we had not reached as far as you; for we did come all the way to you with the Good News of the Messiah. 15 We do not boast about the area in which others labor; but our hope is that as your trust grows, we will be magnified in your midst in relation to our own area of work, so that we can go on to do even more, 16 namely, to proclaim the Good News in regions beyond you. Our hope is not to boast about the work already done by someone else.
17 So, let anyone who wants to boast, boast about Adonai;[a] 18 because it is not the one who recommends himself who is worthy of approval, but the one whom the Lord recommends.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.