Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the Overcomer: to sing upon Mahalath, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite.

¹ ¶ O LORD God of my saving health, I cry day and night before Thee;

² let my prayer come before thee; incline thine ear unto my cry;

³ for my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near unto Sheol.

⁴ I am counted with those that go down into the pit; I am as a man that has no strength:

⁵ Freed among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou dost remember no more; and they are cut off from thy hand.

⁶ Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.

⁷ Thy wrath lies hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.

⁸ Thou hast put away mine acquaintances far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them; I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.

⁹ My eye mourns by reason of affliction; LORD, I have called daily upon thee; I have stretched out my hands unto thee.

¹⁰ ¶ Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.

¹¹ Shall thy mercy be declared in the grave? or thy truth in hell?

¹² Shall thy wonder be known in darkness? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

¹³ But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer come before thee.

¹⁴ LORD, why dost thou cast off my soul? why dost thou hide thy face from me?

¹⁵ I am afflicted and destitute; from my youth up I have feared thee and been in awe of thee.

¹⁶ Thy fierce wrath goes over me; thy terrors have cut me off.

¹⁷ They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together.

¹⁸ Thou hast put lover and friend far from me, and placed my acquaintances into darkness.

20 ¶ In those days Hezekiah became sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, came to him and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thy house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live.

² Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed unto the LORD, saying,

³ I beseech thee, O LORD, remember how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept with great weeping.

⁴ And before Isaiah had gone out into the middle of the court, the word of the LORD came to him, saying,

⁵ Turn again and tell Hezekiah, prince of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David, thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears; behold, I will heal thee; on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD.

⁶ And I will add unto thy days fifteen years, and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my slave David’s sake.

⁷ And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

⁸ And Hezekiah had said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me and that I shall go up into the house of the LORD the third day?

⁹ And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees or go back ten degrees?

¹⁰ And Hezekiah answered, It is an easy thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees, but not for the shadow to return backward ten degrees.

¹¹ Then Isaiah, the prophet, cried unto the LORD, and he caused the shadow to return by the degrees by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward.

¹⁴ ¶ And as he came to the disciples, he saw a great multitude about them and scribes that disputed with them.

¹⁵ And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him.

¹⁶ And he asked the scribes, What dispute ye with them?

¹⁷ And one of the multitude answering, said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, who has a dumb spirit;

¹⁸ and wherever he takes him, he tears him, and he foams and gnashes with his teeth and pines away; and I spoke to thy disciples that they should cast him out, and they could not.

¹⁹ Answering, he said unto him, O unfaithful generation, how long shall I be with you? How long must I suffer you? Bring him unto me.

²⁰ And they brought him unto him; and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tore him; and he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming.

²¹ And Jesus asked his father, How long ago is it since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.

²² And ofttimes it has cast him into the fire and into the waters to kill him, but if thou canst do any thing, help us, having mercy on us.

²³ And Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe this, all things are possible to him that believes.

²⁴ And straightway the father of the child crying out with tears, said, Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief.

²⁵ When Jesus saw that the multitude concurred, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I command thee, come out of him and enter no more into him.

²⁶ Then the spirit, crying out and rending him sore, came out; and he remained as one dead, insomuch that many said that he was dead.

²⁷ But Jesus, taking him by the hand, straightened him up; and he arose.

²⁸ And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?

²⁹ And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.