Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
43 Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.
2 For Thou art the God of my strength; why dost Thou cast me off? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
3 O send out Thy light and Thy truth! Let them lead me. Let them bring me unto Thy holy hill and to Thy tabernacles.
4 Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy; yea, upon the harp will I praise Thee, O God, my God.
5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance and my God.
6 “A son honoreth his father, and a servant his master. If then I be a father, where is Mine honor? And if I be a master, where is the fear of Me? saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, who despise My name. And ye say, ‘Wherein have we despised Thy name?’
7 Ye offer polluted bread upon Mine altar; and ye say, ‘Wherein have we polluted Thee?’ In that ye say: ‘The table of the Lord is contemptible.’
8 And if ye offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not evil? And if ye offer the lame and sick, is that not evil? Offer it now unto thy governor! Will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person?” saith the Lord of hosts.
9 “And now, I pray you, beseech God that He will be gracious unto us. This has been by your hand: Will He regard your persons?” saith the Lord of hosts.
10 “Who is there even among you who would shut the doors for nought? Neither do ye kindle fire on Mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you,” saith the Lord of hosts, “neither will I accept an offering from your hand.
11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, My name shall be great among the Gentiles. And in every place incense shall be offered unto My name, and a pure offering; for My name shall be great among the heathen,” saith the Lord of hosts.
12 “But ye have profaned it in that ye say, ‘The table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even His meat, is contemptible.’
13 Ye said also, ‘Behold, what a weariness is it!’ And ye have sniffed it,” saith the Lord of hosts. “And ye brought that which was torn and the lame and the sick; thus ye brought an offering! Should I accept this from your hand?” saith the Lord.
14 “But cursed be the deceiver who hath in his flock a male, and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing. For I am a great King,” saith the Lord of hosts, “and My name is dreadful among the heathen.
2 “And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.
2 If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart to give glory unto My name,” saith the Lord of hosts, “I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.
3 Behold, I will corrupt your seed and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it.
4 And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that My covenant might be with Levi,” saith the Lord of hosts.
5 “My covenant was with him of life and peace, and I gave them to him for the fear with which he feared Me and was afraid before My name.
6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and equity, and turned many away from iniquity.
7 For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
8 But ye have departed from the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” saith the Lord of hosts.
9 “Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept My ways but have been partial in the law.”
13 “But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men, for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers; therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
15 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
16 “Woe unto you, ye blind guides, who say, ‘Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.’
17 Ye fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
18 And ye say, ‘Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is liable.’
19 Ye fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it and by all things thereon.
21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it and by Him that dwelleth therein.
22 And he that shall swear by Heaven, sweareth by the throne of God and by Him that sitteth thereon.
23 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law: judgment, mercy, and faith. These ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone.
24 Ye blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
25 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but are within full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness.
28 Even so, ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
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