Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

To the chief Musician: an instruction. Of David; when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and said unto him, David came to the house of Ahimelech.

52 Why boastest thou thyself in evil, thou mighty man? The loving-kindness of God [abideth] continually.

² Thy tongue deviseth mischievous things, like a sharp razor, practising deceit.

³ Thou hast loved evil rather than good, lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.

⁴ Thou hast loved all devouring words, O deceitful tongue!

⁵ God shall likewise destroy thee for ever; he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of [thy] tent, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.

⁶ The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him, [saying,]

⁷ Behold the man that made not God his strength, but put confidence in the abundance of his riches, [and] strengthened himself in his avarice.

⁸ But as for me, I am like a green olive-tree in the house of God: I will confide in the loving-kindness of God for ever and ever.

⁹ I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done [it]; and I will wait on thy name, before thy godly ones, for it is good.

22 Thus saith Jehovah: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,

² and say, Hear the word of Jehovah, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people who enter in through these gates.

³ Thus saith Jehovah: Execute judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor; and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place.

⁴ For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in through the gates of this house kings sitting in the place of David upon his throne, riding in chariots and on horses,—he, and his servants, and his people.

⁵ But if ye will not hear these words, I have sworn by myself, saith Jehovah, that this house shall become a waste.

⁶ For thus saith Jehovah concerning the house of the king of Judah: Thou art a Gilead unto me, the summit of Lebanon: verily I will make thee a wilderness, cities not inhabited.

⁷ And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons; and they shall cut down the choice of thy cedars, and cast [them] into the fire.

⁸ And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath Jehovah done thus unto this great city?

⁹ And they shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of Jehovah their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.

⁴³ For there is no good tree which produces corrupt fruit, nor a corrupt tree which produces good fruit;

⁴⁴ for every tree is known by its own fruit, for figs are not gathered from thorns, nor grapes vintaged from a bramble.

⁴⁵ The good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, brings forth good; and the wicked [man] out of the wicked, brings forth what is wicked: for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.