Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
138 1 David with great courage praiseth the goodness of God toward him, the which is so great, 4 That it is known to foreign princes, who shall praise the Lord together with him. 6 And he is assured to have the like comfort of God in the time following, as he had heretofore.
A Psalm of David.
1 I will praise thee with my whole heart: even before the [a]gods will I praise thee.
2 I will worship toward thine holy [b]Temple and praise thy Name, because of thy loving-kindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy Name above all things by thy word.
3 When I called, then thou heardest me, and hast [c]increased strength in my soul.
4 All the [d]kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord: for they have heard the words of thy mouth.
5 And they shall sing of the ways of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord is great.
6 For the Lord is high, yet he beholdeth the lowly, but the proud he knoweth [e]afar off.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, yet wilt thou revive me: thou wilt stretch forth thine hand upon the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.
8 The Lord will [f]perform his work toward me: O Lord, thy mercy endureth forever: forsake not the works of thine hands.
15 Thus saith the Lord God, In the day when he went down to hell, I caused them to mourn, and I [a]covered the deep for him, and I did restrain the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed: I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted.
16 I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell, with them that descend into the pit, and all the excellent trees of Eden, and the best of Lebanon: even all that are nourished with waters, shall [b]be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.
17 They also went down to hell with him unto them that were slain with the sword, and his arm, and they that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen.
18 To whom [c]art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet thou shalt be cast down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt sleep in the midst of the [d]uncircumcised, with them that be slain by the sword: this is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord God.
12 [a]For we [b]dare not make ourselves of the number, or to compare ourselves to them, which praise themselves: but they understand not that they measure themselves with [c]themselves, and [d]compare themselves with themselves.
13 But we will not rejoice of things, which are not within our [e]measure, (A)but according to the measure of the line, whereof God hath distributed unto us a measure to attain even unto you.
14 For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, as though we had not attained unto you: for even to you also have we come in preaching the Gospel of Christ.
15 Not boasting of things which are [f]without our measure: that is, of other men’s labors: and we hope, when your faith shall increase, to be magnified by you according to your line abundantly,
16 And to preach the Gospel in those regions which are beyond you: not to rejoice in [g]another man’s line: that is, in the things that are prepared already.
17 (B)[h]But let him that rejoiceth, rejoice in the Lord.
18 For he that praiseth himself, is not allowed, but he whom the Lord praiseth.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.