Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Prayer of David.

¹ ¶ Hear righteousness, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that does not go out of feigned lips.

² Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold uprightness.

³ Thou hast proved my heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast refined me and hast found no iniquity; that which I thought did not pass through my mouth.

⁴ Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have observed the ways of the violent.

⁵ Sustain my steps in thy ways that my footsteps not slip.

⁶ I have called upon thee, because thou dost hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me and hear my speech.

⁷ Show thy mercy to be marvellous, O Saviour of those who put their trust in thee, from those that rise up against thy right hand.

⁸ ¶ Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me with the shadow of thy wings,

⁹ from the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.

¹⁰ They are closed in with their own fat; with their mouth they speak proudly.

¹¹ They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes upon throwing us down to the earth

¹² like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.

¹³ Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, with thy sword;

¹⁴ from men, with thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, who have their portion in this life and whose belly thou dost fill with thy provision: they satisfy their sons and leave the rest to their family.

¹⁵ As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.

⁵ ¶ Thus hath the LORD said; Cursed be the man that trusts in man and makes flesh his arm and whose heart departs from the LORD.

⁶ For he shall be like the heath in the desert and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.

⁷ Blessed is the man that is steadfast in the LORD and whose trust is the LORD.

⁸ For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreads out her roots by the river and shall not see when heat comes, but her leaf shall be green and shall not be fatigued in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who shall know it?

¹⁰ I the LORD search the heart; I try the kidneys, even to give each man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings.

¹¹ As the partridge that steals that which she did not hatch, is he that gets riches and not with righteousness; in the midst of his days he shall leave them, and at his end shall be a fool.

¹² ¶ The throne of glory, height from the beginning, is the place of our sanctification.

¹³ O hope of Israel! LORD, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed; and those that depart from me shall be written in the dust because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.

¹⁴ Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.

¹⁵ Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of the LORD? let it come now.

¹⁶ For I did not take it upon myself to be a pastor following thee; neither have I desired the woeful day; thou dost know: that which came out of my lips has come forth in thy presence.

¹⁷ Do not be a terror unto me; thou art my hope in the day of evil.

¹⁸ Let them be confounded that persecute me, but do not let me be confounded; let them be dismayed; but do not let me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil and destroy them with double destruction.

²² ¶ Then was brought unto him one possessed with a demon, blind, and dumb, and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spoke and saw.

²³ And all the people were amazed and said, Is not this the son of David?

²⁴ But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow does not cast out demons but by Beelzebub the prince of the demons.

²⁵ And Jesus knew their thoughts and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself shall not remain;

²⁶ and if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom remain?

²⁷ And if I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.

²⁸ But if I cast out the demons by the Spirit of God, then certainly the kingdom of God is come unto you.

²⁹ Or else how can one enter into the strong man’s house and spoil his goods except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.

³⁰ He that is not with me is against me, and he that does not gather with me scatters abroad.

³¹ Therefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven unto men.

³² And whosoever speaks a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him, but whosoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age, neither in the age to come.