Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 16
Confidence in the Lord
A Miktam of David.(A)
1 Protect me, God, for I take refuge in you.(B)
2 I[a] said to the Lord, “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)
7 I will bless the Lord who counsels me(H)—
even at night when my thoughts trouble me.[d](I)
8 I always let the Lord guide me.[e]
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.(J)
9 Therefore my heart is glad
and my whole being rejoices;
my body also rests securely.(K)
10 For you will not abandon me to Sheol;(L)
you will not allow your faithful one to see decay.(M)
11 You reveal the path of life to me;
in your presence is abundant joy;(N)
at your right hand are eternal pleasures.(O)
The Sentence Executed
28 All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar.(A) 29 At the end of twelve 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 to be a royal residence by my vast power and for 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 human kingdoms, and he gives them to anyone he wants.”
33 At that moment the message against Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. 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,(G)
and he does what he wants(H) with the army of heaven
and the inhabitants of the earth.
There is no one who can block his hand
or say to him, “What have you done?” (I)
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.(J) 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt, and glorify the King of the heavens, because all his works are true and his ways are just.(K) He is able to humble(L) those who walk in pride.(M)
The Parable of the Vineyard Owner
12 He(A) 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 servant(D) to the farmers to collect some of the fruit(E) of the vineyard from them. 3 But they took him, beat(F) him, and sent him away empty-handed.(G) 4 Again he sent another servant 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; some they beat, and others they killed. 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 to one another, ‘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 What then will the owner[c](J) of the vineyard do? He will come and kill 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.(M)
11 This came about from the Lord(N)
and is wonderful in our eyes?”[d]
12 They were looking for a way to arrest him but feared the crowd because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. So they left him and went away.
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