Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹¹ For Your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity and my guilt, for [they are] great.

¹² Who is the man who reverently fears and worships the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way that he should choose.

¹³ He himself shall dwell at ease, and his offspring shall inherit the land.

¹⁴ The secret [of the sweet, satisfying companionship] of the Lord have they who fear (revere and worship) Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its [deep, inner] meaning.^(A)

¹⁵ My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for He will pluck my feet out of the net.

¹⁶ [Lord] turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.

¹⁷ The troubles of my heart are multiplied; bring me out of my distresses.

¹⁸ Behold my affliction and my pain and forgive all my sins [of thinking and doing].

¹⁹ Consider my enemies, for they abound; they hate me with cruel hatred.

²⁰ O keep me, Lord, and deliver me; let me not be ashamed or disappointed, for my trust and my refuge are in You.

19 Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is perverse in his speech and is a [self-confident] fool.

² Desire without knowledge is not good, and to be overhasty is to sin and miss the mark.

³ The foolishness of man subverts his way [ruins his affairs]; then his heart is resentful and frets against the Lord.

⁴ Wealth makes many friends, but the poor man is avoided by his neighbor.^(A)

⁵ A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he who breathes out lies shall not escape.^(B)

⁶ Many will entreat the favor of a liberal man, and every man is a friend to him who gives gifts.

⁷ All the brothers of a poor man detest him—how much more do his friends go far from him! He pursues them with words, but they are gone.

⁸ He who gains Wisdom loves his own life; he who keeps understanding shall prosper and find good.

⁹ A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he who breathes forth lies shall perish.

¹⁰ Luxury is not fitting for a [self-confident] fool—much less for a slave to rule over princes.

¹¹ Good sense makes a man restrain his anger, and it is his glory to overlook a transgression or an offense.

¹² The king’s wrath is as terrifying as the roaring of a lion, but his favor is as [refreshing as] dew upon the grass.^(C)

¹³ A self-confident and foolish son is the [multiplied] calamity of his father, and the contentions of a wife are like a continual dripping [of water through a chink in the roof].

¹⁴ House and riches are the inheritance from fathers, but a wise, understanding, and prudent wife is from the Lord.^(D)

¹⁵ Slothfulness casts one into a deep sleep, and the idle person shall suffer hunger.

¹⁶ He who keeps the commandment [of the Lord] keeps his own life, but he who despises His ways shall die.^(E)

¹⁷ He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and that which he has given He will repay to him.^(F)

¹¹ For this is the message (the announcement) which you have heard from the first, that we should love one another,

¹² [And] not be like Cain who [took his nature and got his motivation] from the evil one and slew his brother. And why did he slay him? Because his deeds (activities, works) were wicked and malicious and his brother’s were righteous (virtuous).

¹³ Do not be surprised and wonder, brethren, that the world detests and pursues you with hatred.

¹⁴ We know that we have passed over out of death into Life by the fact that we love the brethren (our fellow Christians). He who does not love abides (remains, is ^[a]held and kept continually) in [spiritual] death.

¹⁵ Anyone who hates (abominates, detests) his brother [in Christ] is [at heart] a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding (^[b]persevering) within him.

¹⁶ By this we come to know (progressively to recognize, to perceive, to understand) the [essential] love: that He laid down His [own] life for us; and we ought to lay [our] lives down for [those who are our] brothers [^[c]in Him].

¹⁷ But if anyone has this world’s goods (resources for sustaining life) and sees his brother and ^[d]fellow believer in need, yet closes his heart of compassion against him, how can the love of God live and remain in him?