Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

138 I will praise Thee with my whole heart; before the gods will I sing praise unto Thee.

² I will worship toward Thy holy temple, and praise Thy name for Thy lovingkindness and for Thy truth, for Thou hast magnified Thy word above all Thy name.

³ In the day when I cried, Thou answered me, and strengthened me with strength in my soul.

⁴ All the kings of the earth shall praise Thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of Thy mouth.

⁵ Yea, they shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord.

⁶ Though the Lord be high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly, but the proud He knoweth afar off.

⁷ Though I walk in the midst of trouble, Thou wilt revive me; Thou shalt stretch forth Thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and Thy right hand shall save me.

⁸ The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me; Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever; forsake not the works of Thine own hands.

¹⁵ “‘Thus saith the Lord God: In the day when he went down to the grave I caused a mourning. I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed; and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him.

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 trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.

¹⁷ They also went down into hell with him unto them that are slain with the sword, and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen.

¹⁸ To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? Yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth. Thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain by the sword. “‘This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord God.’”

¹² For we dare not number ourselves, or compare ourselves, with some who commend themselves. For in measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, they are not wise.

¹³ But we will not boast of things beyond our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you.

¹⁴ For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, as though we reached not unto you. For we have come as far as to you also in preaching the Gospel of Christ,

¹⁵ not boasting of things beyond our own measure, that is, of other men’s labors; but having hope that, when your faith has increased, we shall be magnified in you according to our rule abundantly,

¹⁶ to preach the Gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s rule, which he made ready for our hand.

¹⁷ But “he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”

¹⁸ For it is not he that commendeth himself who is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.