Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Jehovah the psalmist’s shepherd.
A Psalm of David.
23 Jehovah is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures;
He leadeth me beside [a]still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul:
He guideth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of [b]the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; for thou art with me;
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
Thou hast anointed my head with oil;
My cup runneth over.
6 [c]Surely goodness and lovingkindness shall follow me all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of Jehovah [d]for ever.
10 Hear ye the word which Jehovah speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: 2 thus saith Jehovah, Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the nations are dismayed at them. 3 For the [a]customs of the peoples are vanity; for [b]one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe. 4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. 5 They are like a [c]palm-tree, of turned work, and speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.
6 There is none like unto thee, O Jehovah; thou art great, and thy name is great in might. 7 Who should not fear thee, O King of the nations? for [d]to thee doth it appertain; forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is none like unto thee. 8 But they are [e]together brutish and foolish: [f]the instruction of idols! it is but a stock. 9 There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith; blue and purple for their clothing; they are all the work of skilful men. 10 But Jehovah is [g]the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting King: at his wrath the earth trembleth, and the nations are not able to abide his indignation.
11 [h]Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, [i]these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.
12 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding hath he stretched out the heavens. 13 [j]When he uttereth his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasuries. 14 Every man [k]is become brutish and is without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. 15 They are vanity, a work of [l]delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. 16 The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: Jehovah of hosts is his name.
15 who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16 for in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him; 17 and he is before all things, and in him all things [a]consist. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; [b]that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19 [c]For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in him should all the fulness dwell; 20 and through him to reconcile all things [d]unto [e]himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, I say, whether things upon the earth, or things in the heavens. 21 And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works, 22 yet now [f]hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable before him: 23 if so be that ye continue in the faith, grounded and stedfast, and not moved away from the hope of the [g]gospel which ye heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven; whereof I Paul was made a minister.
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