Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Song of degrees.

¹ ¶ Out of the depths I cry unto thee, O LORD.

² Lord, hear my voice; let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.

³ If thou, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall endure?

⁴ Therefore there is forgiveness close to thee, that thou may be feared.

⁵ ¶ I have waited for the LORD, my soul has waited, and for his word I have waited.

⁶ My soul has waited for the Lord more than those that watch for the morning: I say, more than those that watch for the morning.

⁷ Let Israel wait for the LORD; for with the LORD there is mercy and plenteous redemption close to him.

⁸ And he shall ransom Israel from all his sins.

⁹ ¶ Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Those that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts.

¹⁰ For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

¹¹ For with stammering lips and another tongue he will speak to this people.

¹² To whom he said, This is the rest with which ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.

¹³ But the word of the LORD shall be unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go and fall backward and be broken and snared and taken.

⁷ ¶ But the end of all things is at hand; be ye, therefore, temperate and watch unto prayer.

⁸ And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves; for charity shall cover a multitude of sins.

⁹ Lovingly be hospitable one to another without murmuring.

¹⁰ Let each one according to the gift that he has received, administer it unto the others, as a good steward of the diverse graces of God.

¹¹ If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God; if anyone ministers, let them do it according to the virtue which God gives, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus, the Christ, unto whom is glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

¹² ¶ Beloved, think it not strange when you are tried by fire (which is done to prove you) as though some strange thing happened unto you,

¹³ but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of the afflictions of the Christ, so that also in the revelation of his glory, ye may rejoice in triumph.

¹⁴ If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are ye; for the glory and the Spirit of God rests upon you; certainly on their part he is blasphemed, but on your part he is glorified.

¹⁵ So let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as desirous of the things of others.

¹⁶ But if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf.

¹⁷ For it is time that the judgment begins from the house of God; and if it first begins with us, what shall the end be of those that do not obey the gospel of God?

¹⁸ And if the righteous are saved with difficulty, where shall the unfaithful and the sinner appear?

¹⁹ Therefore, let those that are afflicted according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls unto him as unto a faithful Creator, doing good.