Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Song of degrees.

¹ ¶ Unto thee I lift up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.

² Behold, as the eyes of slaves look unto the hand of their masters and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until he shall have mercy upon us.

³ Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us, for we are exceedingly weary of being held in contempt.

⁴ Our soul is exceedingly weary of the scorning of those that are at ease and of the contempt of the proud.

7 ¶ The word that was sent to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

² Stand in the gate of the LORD’s house and proclaim there this word and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.

³ Thus hath the LORD of the hosts the God of Israel said, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.

⁴ Do not trust in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD are these.

⁵ For if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if ye thoroughly do right between a man and his neighbour,

⁶ if ye do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed no innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt,

⁷ then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers for ever and ever.

⁸ Behold, ye trust in lying words that cannot profit.

⁹ Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not,

¹⁰ and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are free to do all these abominations?

¹¹ Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, said the LORD.

¹² But go now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.

¹³ And now because ye have done all these works, said the LORD and I spoke well unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye did not hear; and I called you, but ye did not answer;

¹⁴ therefore I will do unto this house, which is called by my name, in which ye trust, and unto this place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.

¹⁵ And I will cast you out of my sight as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.

⁸ Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye reign as kings without us, and I wish ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.

⁹ For I think that God has set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death; for we are made a spectacle unto the world and to angels and to men.

¹⁰ We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.

¹¹ Even unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are ill clad and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place

¹² and labour, working with our own hands; being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it;

¹³ being blasphemed, we intreat; we are made as the filth of this world and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.