Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
6 (A)Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
A (B)scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
Therefore God, Your God, has (C)anointed You
With the oil of (D)gladness more than Your companions.
8 All Your garments are (E)scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia,
Out of the ivory palaces, by which they have made You glad.
9 (F)Kings’ daughters are among Your honorable women;
(G)At Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir.
10 Listen, O daughter,
Consider and incline your ear;
(H)Forget your own people also, and your father’s house;
11 So the King will greatly desire your beauty;
(I)Because He is your Lord, worship Him.
12 And the daughter of Tyre will come with a gift;
(J)The rich among the people will seek your favor.
13 The royal daughter is all glorious within the palace;
Her clothing is woven with gold.
14 (K)She shall be brought to the King in robes of many colors;
The virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to You.
15 With gladness and rejoicing they shall be brought;
They shall enter the King’s palace.
Israel Restored at Last
14 O Israel, (A)return to the Lord your God,
For you have stumbled because of your iniquity;
2 Take words with you,
And return to the Lord.
Say to Him,
“Take away all iniquity;
Receive us graciously,
For we will offer the (B)sacrifices[a] of our lips.
3 Assyria shall (C)not save us,
(D)We will not ride on horses,
Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods.’
(E)For in You the fatherless finds mercy.”
4 “I will heal their (F)backsliding,
I will (G)love them freely,
For My anger has turned away from him.
5 I will be like the (H)dew to Israel;
He shall [b]grow like the lily,
And [c]lengthen his roots like Lebanon.
6 His branches shall [d]spread;
(I)His beauty shall be like an olive tree,
And (J)his fragrance like Lebanon.
7 (K)Those who dwell under his shadow shall return;
They shall be revived like grain,
And [e]grow like a vine.
Their [f]scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 “Ephraim shall say, ‘What have I to do anymore with idols?’
I have heard and observed him.
I am like a green cypress tree;
(L)Your fruit is found in Me.”
9 Who is wise?
Let him understand these things.
Who is prudent?
Let him know them.
For (M)the ways of the Lord are right;
The righteous walk in them,
But transgressors stumble in them.
Concern for Their Faithfulness
11 Oh, that you would bear with me in a little (A)folly—and indeed you do bear with me. 2 For I am (B)jealous for you with godly jealousy. For (C)I have betrothed you to one husband, (D)that I may present you (E)as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3 But I fear, lest somehow, as (F)the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds (G)may be corrupted from the [a]simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a (H)different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!
Paul and False Apostles
5 For I consider that (I)I am not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles. 6 Even though (J)I am untrained in speech, yet I am not (K)in knowledge. But (L)we have [b]been thoroughly manifested among you in all things.
7 Did I commit sin in [c]humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you (M)free of charge? 8 I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to minister to you. 9 And when I was present with you, and in need, (N)I was a burden to no one, for what I lacked (O)the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied. And in everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so I will keep myself. 10 (P)As the truth of Christ is in me, (Q)no one shall stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia. 11 Why? (R)Because I do not love you? God knows!
12 But what I do, I will also continue to do, (S)that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast. 13 For such (T)are false apostles, (U)deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into (V)an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, (W)whose end will be according to their works.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.