Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

17 Hear the right, O Lord; attend unto my cry! Give ear unto my prayer, which goeth not out of feigned lips.

² Let my sentence come forth from Thy presence; let Thine eyes behold things with equity.

³ Thou hast tested mine heart; Thou hast visited me in the night; Thou hast tried me and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.

⁴ Concerning the works of men, by the word of Thy lips I have been kept from the paths of the destroyer.

⁵ Uphold my goings in Thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.

⁶ I have called upon Thee, for Thou wilt hear me, O God; incline Thine ear unto me and hear my speaking.

⁷ Show Thy marvelous lovingkindness, O Thou that savest by Thy right hand them that put their trust in Thee from those that rise up against them.

⁸ Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me under the shadow of Thy wings,

⁹ from the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies who compass me about.

¹⁰ They are enclosed in their own fat; with their mouth they speak proudly.

¹¹ They have now encompassed us in our steps; they have set their eyes, bowing down to the earth,

¹² like a lion that is greedy for his prey, even as a young lion lurking in secret places.

¹³ Arise, O Lord, disappoint them! Cast them down; deliver my soul from the wicked by Thy sword,

¹⁴ from men which are Thy hand, O Lord, from men of the world that have their portion in this life, and whose belly Thou fillest with Thy hid treasure: They are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.

¹⁵ As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.

3 And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.

² And the Lord said unto Satan, “The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord who hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee! Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?”

³ Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.

⁴ And He answered and spoke unto those who stood before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And unto him He said, “Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.”

⁵ And I said, “Let them set a clean miter upon his head.” So they set a clean miter upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord stood by.

⁶ And the angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua, saying,

⁷ “Thus saith the Lord of hosts: ‘If thou wilt walk in My ways, and if thou wilt keep My ordinance, then thou shalt also judge My house, and shalt also keep My courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these who stand by.

⁸ Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou and thy fellows who sit before thee; for they are men wondered at. For behold, I will bring forth My Servant the Branch.

⁹ For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua: upon one stone shall be seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave the engraving thereof,’ saith the Lord of hosts, ‘and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

¹⁰ In that day,’ saith the Lord of hosts, ‘shall ye call every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.’”

⁴ For if God spared not the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment;

⁵ and spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the Flood upon the world of the ungodly;

⁶ and, turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to be overthrown, making them an example unto those who thereafter should live ungodly;

⁷ and if He delivered righteous Lot, vexed with the filthy conduct of the wicked

⁸ (for that righteous man, having dwelt among them seeing and hearing, was vexed in his righteous soul day after day with their unlawful deeds)—

⁹ then the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust unto the Day of Judgment to be punished,

¹⁰ but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise governance. Presumptuous are they and selfwilled; they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities,

¹¹ whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.

¹² But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not, and shall utterly perish in their own corruption,

¹³ and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceptions while they feast with you,

¹⁴ having eyes full of adultery and who cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls; their hearts they have exercised with covetous practices; accursed children!

¹⁵ They have forsaken the right way and have gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages ofunrighteousness,

¹⁶ but was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with a man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet.

¹⁷ These are wells without water, clouds that are carried by a tempest, for whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.

¹⁸ For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh and through much wantonness those who had clean escaped from those who live in error.

¹⁹ While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption; for by whom a man is overcome, by the same is he brought into bondage.

²⁰ For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

²¹ For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they had known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.