Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

23 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

² He makes me to rest in green pasture and leads me by the still waters.

³ He restores my soul and leads me in the paths of righteousness, for His Name’s sake.

⁴ Indeed, though I should walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me in the sight of my adversaries. You anoint my head with oil; and my cup runs over.

⁶ Doubtless, kindness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I shall remain in the House of the LORD forever. A Psalm of David.

10 Hear the Word of the LORD that He speaks to you, O House of Israel!

² Thus says the LORD: “Do not learn the way of the heathen, and do not be afraid of the signs of Heaven, though the heathen are afraid of such.

³ “For the customs of the people are frivolous. For one cuts a tree out of the forest (which is the work of the hands of the carpenter) with the axe,

⁴ “and another decorates it with silver and with gold. They fasten it with nails and hammers, so that it does not fall.

⁵ “They stand up, as the palm tree, but do not speak. They are carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them! For they cannot do evil, nor can they do good.”

⁶ There is no one like You, O LORD! You are great, and Your Name great in power!

⁷ Who would not fear You, O King of Nations? It befits You. For among all the wise men of the Gentiles, and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like You.

⁸ But altogether they dote and are foolish. Their wood is a doctrine of vanity.

⁹ Silver plates are brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the craftsman and the hands of the metalsmith, the blue silk and the purple their clothing. All these things are made by cunning men.

¹⁰ But the LORD, the God of Truth, He is the living God, and an everlasting King. At His anger the Earth shall tremble. And the nations cannot abide His wrath.

¹¹ “Thus shall you say to them: ‘The gods that have not made the heavens and the Earth shall perish from the Earth, and from under these heavens.

¹² ‘He has made the Earth by His power, and established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heaven by His discretion.

¹³ ‘He gives, by voice, the multitude of waters in the heaven, and He causes the clouds to ascend from the ends of the Earth. He turns lightnings to rain and brings forth the wind out of His treasures.’”

¹⁴ Every man is a beast by knowledge. Every metalsmith is confounded by the molten image. For his idol is but falsehood and there is no breath in it.

¹⁵ They are vanity, the work of errors. At the time of their reckoning they shall perish.

¹⁶ The portion of Jacob is not like them. For He is the maker of all things, and Israel is the rod of His inheritance. The LORD of Hosts is His Name.

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creation.

¹⁶ For by Him were all things created which are in Heaven and which are on Earth—things visible and invisible —whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.

¹⁷ And He is before all things. And in Him all things consist.

¹⁸ And He is the Head of the body of the Church. He is the Beginning; Firstborn from the dead; so that in all things He might have preeminence.

¹⁹ For in Him was all fullness pleased to dwell.

²⁰ And through Him were all things reconciled to Himself, having made peace by the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on Earth or things in Heaven.

²¹ And you also - who were in times past estranged and hostile because your minds were set on evil works - He has now reconciled

²² in the body of His flesh through death; to present you as holy and blameless and beyond reproach in His sight

²³ if you continue to be grounded and established in the faith and are not moved away from the hope of the Gospel which you have heard (having been preached to all creation under Heaven, and to which I, Paul, am a minister).