Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁶⁹ TAU. Let my cry come near before thee, Jehovah: give me understanding according to thy word.

¹⁷⁰ Let my supplication come before thee: deliver me according to thy word.

¹⁷¹ My lips shall pour forth praise when thou hast taught me thy statutes.

¹⁷² My tongue shall speak aloud of thy word; for all thy commandments are righteousness.

¹⁷³ Let thy hand be for my help; for I have chosen thy precepts.

¹⁷⁴ I have longed for thy salvation, O Jehovah, and thy law is my delight.

¹⁷⁵ Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee; and let thy judgments help me.

¹⁷⁶ I have gone astray like a lost sheep: seek thy servant; for I have not forgotten thy commandments.

13 And behold, there came a man of God from Judah, by the word of Jehovah, to Bethel; and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.

² And he cried against the altar by the word of Jehovah, and said, O altar, altar! thus saith Jehovah: Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he sacrifice the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burned upon thee.

³ And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign that Jehovah hath spoken: Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.

⁴ And it came to pass when the king heard the word of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, that Jeroboam stretched forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand which he stretched out against him dried up, so that he could not bring it back again to him.

⁵ And the altar was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of Jehovah.

⁶ And the king answered and said to the man of God, Intreat now Jehovah thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me again. And the man of God intreated Jehovah, and the king's hand was restored to him again, and became as before.

⁷ And the king said to the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a present.

⁸ And the man of God said to the king, If thou wilt give me half thy house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place;

⁹ for so was it charged me by the word of Jehovah, saying, Thou shalt eat no bread, nor drink water, nor return by the way that thou shalt go.

¹⁰ So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he had come to Bethel.

⁹ What then? are we better? No, in no wise: for we have before charged both Jews and Greeks with being all under sin:

¹⁰ according as it is written, There is not a righteous [man], not even one;

¹¹ there is not the [man] that understands, there is not one that seeks after God.

¹² All have gone out of the way, they have together become unprofitable; there is not one that practises goodness, there is not so much as one:

¹³ their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; asps' poison [is] under their lips:

¹⁴ whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness;

¹⁵ swift their feet to shed blood;

¹⁶ ruin and misery [are] in their ways,

¹⁷ and way of peace they have not known:

¹⁸ there is no fear of God before their eyes.

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the things the law says, it speaks to those under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world be under judgment to God.

²⁰ Wherefore by works of law no flesh shall be justified before him; for by law [is] knowledge of sin.