Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Psalm of David.

¹ ¶ Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless the name of his holiness.

² Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

³ Who forgives all thine iniquities; who heals all thy diseases;

⁴ who redeems thy life from destruction; who crowns thee with mercy and compassion;

⁵ who satisfies thy mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

⁶ ¶ The LORD executes righteousness and justice unto all that suffer violence.

⁷ He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the sons of Israel.

⁸ The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

⁹ He will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger for ever.

¹⁰ He has not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

¹¹ For as the heavens are high above the earth so does he increase his mercy over those that fear him.

¹² As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our rebellions from us.

¹³ Like as a father has mercy upon his children, so the LORD has mercy upon those that fear him.

²² Bless the LORD, all his works in all places of his dominion: bless the LORD, O my soul.

16 ¶ Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

² Son of man, notify Jerusalem of her abominations

³ and say, Thus hath the Lord GOD said concerning Jerusalem: Thy habitation and thy race was of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite and thy mother a Hittite.

⁴ And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.

⁵ No eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have mercy upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field with little value given to thy life, in the day that thou wast born.

⁶ ¶ I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, and I said unto thee, In thy blood thou shalt live; yea, I said unto thee, In thy blood thou shalt live.

⁷ In ten thousands, as the grass of the field, have I placed thee, and thou wast increased and made great, and thou art come to be adorned with excellent ornaments; thy breasts were fashioned, and thy hair is grown; but thou wast naked and bare.

⁸ And I passed by thee and looked upon thee; behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my mantle over thee and covered thy shame; and I gave thee an oath and entered into a covenant with thee, said the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine;

⁹ and I washed thee with water and washed away thy blood from upon thee, and I anointed thee with oil.

¹⁰ I clothed thee also with broidered work and shod thee with badgers’ skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I clothed thee with silk.

¹¹ I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy arms and a chain on thy neck.

¹² And I put nose rings upon thy nostrils and earrings in thine ears and a diadem of beauty upon thine head.

¹³ Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen and silk and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour of wheat and honey and oil: and thou wast made exceeding beautiful, and thou hast prospered even until thou hast reigned.

¹⁴ And thy renown went forth among the Gentiles for thy beauty; for it was perfect because of my beauty which I placed upon thee, said the Lord GOD.

3 ¶ What advantage then has the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?

² Much in every way: first, certainly, that the oracles of God have been entrusted unto them.

³ For what if some of them did not believe? Shall their unbelief have made the truth of God without effect?

⁴ No, in no wise: for God is true, and every man a liar; as it is written, That thou might be justified in thy words and might overcome when thou dost judge.

⁵ And if our iniquity commends the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Shall for this reason God be unjust who sends punishment? (I speak as a man.)

⁶ No, in no wise: for then how shall God judge the world?

⁷ For if the truth of God has more abounded through my lie unto his glory, why even so am I also judged as a sinner?

⁸ And why not say (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say), Let us do evil, that good may come? The condemnation of whom is just.