Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Prayer for Help

5 Hear my words, O Lord. Think about my crying. ² Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God. For I pray to you. ³ In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice. In the morning I will lay my prayers before You and will look up.

⁴ You are not a God Who is pleased with what is bad. The sinful cannot be with You. ⁵ The proud cannot stand before You. You hate all who do wrong. ⁶ You destroy those who tell lies. The Lord hates liars and men who kill other people.

⁷ But as for me, by Your great loving-kindness, I will come into Your house. At Your holy house I will put my face to the ground before You in love and fear. ⁸ O Lord, lead me in what is right and good, because of the ones who hate me. Make Your way straight in front of me.

⁹ For in their talk there is no truth. Their hearts destroy. Their mouths are like an open grave. With their tongues, they say sweet-sounding words that are not true. ¹⁰ Hold them guilty, O God! Let them fall by their own plans. Throw them out because of their many sins. For they have fought against You. ¹¹ But let all who put their trust in You be glad. Let them sing with joy forever. You make a covering for them, that all who love Your name may be glad in You. ¹² For You will make those happy who do what is right, O Lord. You will cover them all around with Your favor.

Israel Will Be Brought Home

10 Ask the Lord for rain in the spring time. It is the Lord Who makes the storm clouds. He gives rain to men, and gives vegetables in the field to every one. ² The false gods say what is not true. Those who use their secret ways tell lies about the false dreams they have seen. Their comfort means nothing. So the people go from place to place like sheep and are troubled because they have no shepherd. ³ “My anger burns against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders. For the Lord of All has visited His flock, the people of Judah, and will make them like His proud horse in battle. ⁴ From them will come the cornerstone. From them will come the tent nail. From them will come the bow of battle. And from them will come every ruler. ⁵ Together they will be like powerful men, crushing under foot those who hate them into the mud of the streets. They will fight and win the battle against the horsemen because the Lord is with them. ⁶ I will give strength to the family of Judah. I will save the family of Joseph, and I will bring them back, because I have loving-pity on them. They will be as if I had not turned away from them. For I am the Lord their God, and I will answer them. ⁷ Ephraim will be like a powerful man. Their hearts will be glad as with wine. And their children will see it and be glad. Their hearts will have joy in the Lord. ⁸ I will call them together, for I have saved them and set them free. And they will be as many as they were before. ⁹ Even when I send them everywhere among the nations, they will remember Me in far countries. They and their children will live and return. ¹⁰ I will bring them back from the land of Egypt and gather them from Assyria. I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon until there is no more room for them. ¹¹ When they pass through the sea of trouble, I will hold back the waves in the sea. The whole Nile River will dry up. The pride of Assyria will be brought down, and Egypt will lose its power. ¹² I will make My people Israel strong in the Lord, and they will walk in His name,” says the Lord.

⁶ But whoever is the reason for one of these little children who believe in Me to fall into sin, it would be better for him to have a large rock put around his neck and to be thrown into the sea.

⁷ “It is bad for the world because of that which makes people sin. Men will be tempted to sin. But it is bad for the one who is the reason for someone to sin. ⁸ If your hand or your foot is the reason you sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to go into life without a hand or a foot, than to have two hands or two feet and to be thrown into the fire of hell. ⁹ If your eye is the reason you sin, take it out and throw it away. It is better for you to go into life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.