Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

16 The prayer of David. Hear, O Lord, my justice: attend to my supplication. Give ear unto my prayer, which proceedeth not from deceitful lips.

² Let my judgment come forth from thy countenance: let thy eyes behold the things that are equitable.

³ Thou hast proved my heart, and visited it by night, thou hast tried me by fire: and iniquity hath not been found in me.

⁴ That my mouth may not speak the works of men: for the sake of the words of thy lips, I have kept hard ways.

⁵ Perfect thou my goings in thy paths: that my footsteps be not moved.

⁶ I have cried to thee, for thou, O God, hast heard me: O incline thy ear unto me, and hear my words.

⁷ shew forth thy wonderful mercies; thou who savest them that trust in thee.

⁸ From them that resist thy right hand keep me, as the apple of thy eye. Protect me under the shadow of thy wings.

⁹ From the face of the wicked who have afflicted me. My enemies have surrounded my soul:

¹⁰ They have shut up their fat: their mouth hath spoken proudly.

¹¹ They have cast me forth and now they have surrounded me: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth.

¹² They have taken me, as a lion prepared for the prey; and as a young lion dwelling in secret places.

¹³ Arise, O Lord, disappoint him and supplant him; deliver my soul from the wicked one: thy sword

¹⁴ From the enemies of thy hand. O Lord, divide them from the few of the earth in their life: their belly is filled from thy hidden stores. They are full of children: and they have left to their little ones the rest of their substance.

¹⁵ But as for me, I will appear before thy sight in justice: I shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appear.

¹⁹ It is thou, O king, who art grown great and become mighty: for thy greatness hath grown, and hath reached to heaven, and thy power unto the ends of the earth.

²⁰ And whereas the king saw a watcher, and a holy one come down from heaven, and say: Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, and let it be bound with iron and brass among the grass without, and let it be sprinkled with the dew of heaven, and let his feeding be with the wild beasts, till seven times pass over him.

²¹ This is the interpretation of the sentence of the most High, which is come upon my lord the king.

²² They shall cast thee out from among men, and thy dwelling shall be with cattle and with wild beasts, and thou shalt eat grass as an ox, and shalt be wet with the dew of heaven: and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth over the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.

²³ But whereas he commanded, that the stump of the roots thereof, that is, of the tree, should be left: thy kingdom shall remain to thee after thou shalt have known that power is from heaven.

²⁴ Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to thee, and redeem thou thy sins with alms, and thy iniquities with works of mercy to the poor: perhaps he will forgive thy offences.

²⁵ All these things came upon king Nabuchodonosor.

²⁶ At the end of twelve months he was walking in the palace of Babylon.

²⁷ And the king answered, and said: Is not this the great Babylon, which I have built to be the seat of the kingdom, by the strength of my power, and in the glory of my excellence?

⁶ As therefore you have received Jesus Christ the Lord, walk ye in him;

⁷ Rooted and built up in him, and confirmed in the faith, as also you have learned, abounding in him in thanksgiving.

⁸ Beware lest any man cheat you by philosophy, and vain deceit; according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ:

⁹ For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead corporeally;

¹⁰ And you are filled in him, who is the head of all principality and power:

¹¹ In whom also you are circumcised with circumcision not made by hand, in despoiling of the body of the flesh, but in the circumcision of Christ:

¹² Buried with him in baptism, in whom also you are risen again by the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him up from the dead.

¹³ And you, when you were dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh; he hath quickened together with him, forgiving you all offences:

¹⁴ Blotting out the handwriting of the decree that was against us, which was contrary to us. And he hath taken the same out of the way, fastening it to the cross:

¹⁵ And despoiling the principalities and powers, he hath exposed them confidently in open shew, triumphing over them in himself.