Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 18
Praise for Deliverance
For the choir director. Of the servant of the Lord, David, who spoke the words of this song to the Lord on the day the Lord rescued him from the grasp of all his enemies and from the power of Saul.(A) He said:
20 The Lord rewarded me
according to my righteousness;(A)
he repaid me
according to the cleanness of my hands.(B)
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord
and have not turned from my God to wickedness.(C)
22 Indeed, I let all his ordinances guide me[a]
and have not disregarded his statutes.(D)
23 I was blameless toward him(E)
and kept myself from my iniquity.
24 So the Lord repaid me
according to my righteousness,(F)
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.(G)
25 With the faithful
you prove yourself faithful,
with the blameless
you prove yourself blameless,
26 with the pure
you prove yourself pure,
but with the crooked
you prove yourself shrewd.(H)
27 For you rescue an oppressed people,(I)
but you humble those with haughty eyes.(J)
28 Lord, you light my lamp;
my God illuminates my darkness.(K)
29 With you I can attack a barricade,[b]
and with my God I can leap over a wall.(L)
A Deal with Death
14 Therefore hear the word of the Lord,(A) you scoffers(B)
who rule this people in Jerusalem.
15 For you said, “We have made a covenant with Death,
and we have an agreement with Sheol;
when the overwhelming catastrophe[a] passes through,(C)
it will not touch us,
because we have made falsehood our refuge
and have hidden behind treachery.”
16 Therefore the Lord God said:
“Look, I have laid a stone(D) in Zion,
a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;(E)
the one who believes will be unshakable.[b](F)
17 And I will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the mason’s level.”(G)
Hail will sweep away the false refuge,
and water will flood your hiding place.
18 Your covenant with Death will be dissolved,
and your agreement with Sheol will not last.
When the overwhelming catastrophe passes through,
you will be trampled.
19 Every time it passes through,
it will carry you away;
it will pass through every morning—
every day and every night.
Only terror(H) will cause you
to understand the message.[c]
20 Indeed, the bed is too short to stretch out on,
and its cover too small to wrap up in.
21 For the Lord will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim.(I)
He will rise in wrath, as at the Valley of Gibeon,(J)
to do his work, his unexpected work,
and to perform his task, his unfamiliar task.
22 So now, do not scoff,
or your shackles will become stronger.
Indeed, I have heard from the Lord God of Armies
a decree of destruction for the whole land.(K)
The Anointing at Bethany
6 While Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon(A) the leper,[a] 7 a woman approached him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume. She poured it on his head as he was reclining at the table. 8 When the disciples(B) saw it, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. 9 “This might have been sold for a great deal and given to the poor.”
10 Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a noble thing for me. 11 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.(C) 12 By pouring this perfume on my body, she has prepared me for burial. 13 Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel(D) is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”
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