Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 144
A Psalm of David.
1 Blessed be the Lord my strength,
who prepares my hands for war,
and my fingers to fight;
2 my goodness, and my fortress;
my high tower, and my deliverer,
my shield, and in whom I trust;
who subdues nations under me.
3 O Lord, who is man that You take notice of him
or the son of a man that You make account of him?
4 Man is like a breath;
his days are as a shadow that passes away.
5 Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down;
touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
6 Cast forth lightning, and scatter them;
shoot out Your arrows, and destroy them.
7 Send Your hand from above;
rescue me, and deliver me
out of the great waters,
from the hand of foreigners,
8 whose mouth speaks lies,
and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
9 I will sing a new song unto You, O God,
on a harp and an instrument of ten strings I will sing praises unto You;
10 it is He who gives victory to kings,
who delivers David His servant from the cruel sword.
11 Rescue me and deliver me
from the hand of foreigners,
whose mouths speak lies
and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
12 May our sons in their youth
be like plants full grown,
and our daughters like cornerstones,
cut in the similitude of a palace,
13 that our granaries may be full,
providing all manner of produce,
that our sheep may bring forth
thousands and ten thousands in our fields,
14 and may our cattle be strong in labor.
May there be no breaking in
or going out,
and no wailing in our streets.
15 Blessed are the people who have such things;
indeed, blessed are the people whose God is the Lord.
Friends of the Woman
5 Who is that coming up from the wilderness,
leaning upon her beloved?
The Woman
Under the apple tree I awakened you.
There your mother was in labor with you;
there she who bore you was in labor.
6 Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm;
for love is strong as death,
passion fierce as the grave.
Its fires of desire are as ardent flames,
a most intense flame.
7 Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love
all the wealth of his house,
it would be utterly condemned.
Brothers of the Woman
8 We have a little sister,
and she has no breasts.
What will we do for our sister
on the day when she is spoken for?
9 If she is a wall,
we will build upon her a battlement of silver;
but if she is a door,
we will enclose her with boards of cedar.
The Woman
10 I was a wall,
and my breasts were like towers;
then I was in his eyes
as one who finds peace.
11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon;
he leased the vineyard to keepers;
each man was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.
12 My vineyard, my very own, is before me;
you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,
and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.
The Man
13 O you who dwell in the gardens,
my companions listen for your voice;
let me hear it!
The Woman
14 Make haste, my beloved,
and be like a gazelle or a young stag
on the mountains of spices!
The Plot to Kill Jesus(A)
45 Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what Jesus had done, believed in Him. 46 But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees assembled the Sanhedrin and said, “What shall we do? This Man is performing many signs. 48 If we leave Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”
49 Then one of them named Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, 50 nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, that the whole nation should not perish.”
51 He did not say this on his own authority. But being the high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but that He might also gather together in unity the children of God who were scattered abroad. 53 So from that day forward they planned to put Him to death.
54 Therefore Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went away from there to the country near the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and remained there with His disciples.
55 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand. Many went up to Jerusalem from the country before the Passover to purify themselves. 56 Then they searched for Jesus and said among themselves as they stood in the temple, “What do you think, that He will not come to the feast?” 57 Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he should report it, that they might seize Him.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.