Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 16
Confidence in the Lord
A Davidic Miktam.(A)
1 Protect me, God, for I take refuge in You.(B)
2 I[a] said to Yahweh, “You are my Lord;
I have nothing good besides You.”[b](C)
3 As for the holy people who are in the land,(D)
they are the noble ones.
All my delight is in them.
4 The sorrows of those who take another god
for themselves will multiply;
I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood,
and I will not speak their names with my lips.(E)
5 Lord, You are my portion[c]
and my cup of blessing;
You hold my future.(F)
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me
in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.(G)
The Sentence Executed
28 All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar.(A) 29 At the end of 12 months, as he was walking on the roof of the royal palace in Babylon, 30 the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great that I have built by my vast power to be a royal residence and to display my majestic glory?”(B)
31 While the words were still in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven: “King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared that the kingdom has departed from you.(C) 32 You will be driven away from people to live with the wild animals, and you will feed on grass like cattle for seven periods of time, until you acknowledge that the Most High is ruler over the kingdom of men, and He gives it to anyone He wants.”
33 At that moment the sentence against Nebuchadnezzar was executed. He was driven away from people. He ate grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with dew from the sky, until his hair grew like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.(D)
Nebuchadnezzar’s Praise
34 But at the end of those days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven, and my sanity returned to me. Then I praised the Most High and honored and glorified Him who lives forever:(E)
For His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and His kingdom is from generation to generation.(F)
35 All the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing,
and He does what He wants(G) with the army of heaven
and the inhabitants of the earth.
There is no one who can hold back His hand
or say to Him, “What have You done?”(H)
36 At that time my sanity returned to me, and my majesty and splendor returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and my nobles sought me out, I was reestablished over my kingdom, and even more greatness came to me.(I) 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt, and glorify the King of heaven, because all His works are true and His ways are just.(J) He is able to humble(K) those who walk in pride.(L)
The Parable of the Vineyard Owner
12 Then(A) He began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard,(B) put a fence around it, dug out a pit for a winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went away. 2 At harvest time he sent(C) a slave(D) to the farmers to collect some of the fruit(E) of the vineyard from the farmers. 3 But they took him, beat(F) him, and sent him away empty-handed.(G) 4 Again he sent another slave to them, and they[a] hit him on the head and treated him shamefully.[b] 5 Then he sent another, and they killed that one. He also sent many others; they beat some and they killed some.
6 “He still had one to send, a beloved(H) son. Finally(I) he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
7 “But those tenant farmers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ 8 So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.
9 “Therefore, what will the owner[c](J) of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the farmers and give the vineyard to others. 10 Haven’t you read this Scripture:(K)
The(L) stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.[d](M)
11 This came from the Lord(N)
and is wonderful in our eyes?”[e]
12 Because they knew He had said this parable against them, they were looking for a way to arrest Him, but they were afraid of the crowd. So they left Him and went away.
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