Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 32[a]
Remission of Sin
1 (A)Of David. A maskil.
I
Blessed is the one whose fault is removed,
whose sin is forgiven.
2 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputes no guilt,
in whose spirit is no deceit.
II
3 Because I kept silent,[b] my bones wasted away;
I groaned all day long.(B)
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength withered as in dry summer heat.
Selah
5 Then I declared my sin to you;
my guilt I did not hide.(C)
I said, “I confess my transgression to the Lord,”
and you took away the guilt of my sin.
Selah
6 Therefore every loyal person should pray to you
in time of distress.
Though flood waters[c] threaten,
they will never reach him.(D)
7 You are my shelter; you guard me from distress;
with joyful shouts of deliverance you surround me.
Selah
III
8 I will instruct you and show you the way you should walk,
give you counsel with my eye upon you.
9 Do not be like a horse or mule, without understanding;
with bit and bridle their temper is curbed,
else they will not come to you.
IV
10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked one,
but mercy surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.
11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous;
exult, all you upright of heart.(E)
30 Therefore I am against the prophets—oracle of the Lord—those who steal my words from each other.(A) 31 Yes, I am against the prophets—oracle of the Lord—those who compose their own speeches and call them oracles. 32 Yes, I am against the prophets who tell lying dreams—oracle of the Lord—those who lead my people astray by recounting their reckless lies. It was not I who sent them or commanded them; they do this people no good at all—oracle of the Lord.(B)
33 [a]And when this people or a prophet or a priest asks you, “What is the burden of the Lord?” you shall answer, “You are the burden, and I cast you off”—oracle of the Lord. 34 If a prophet or a priest or anyone else mentions “the burden of the Lord,” I will punish that man and his household. 35 Thus you shall ask, when speaking to one another, “What answer did the Lord give?” or “What did the Lord say?” 36 But “the burden of the Lord” you shall mention no more. For each of you, your own word becomes the burden so that you pervert the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. 37 Thus shall you ask the prophet, “What answer did the Lord give?” or “What did the Lord say?” 38 But if you ask about “the burden of the Lord,” then thus says the Lord: Because you use this phrase, “the burden of the Lord,” though I forbade you to use it, 39 therefore I will lift you on high and cast you from my presence, you and the city which I gave to you and your ancestors. 40 And I will bring upon you eternal reproach, eternal shame, never to be forgotten.(C)
Chapter 4
Testing the Spirits.[a] 1 Beloved, do not trust every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they belong to God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.(A) 2 This is how you can know the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh belongs to God,(B) 3 and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus[b] does not belong to God. This is the spirit of the antichrist that, as you heard, is to come, but in fact is already in the world.(C) 4 You belong to God, children, and you have conquered them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They belong to the world; accordingly, their teaching belongs to the world, and the world listens to them.(D) 6 We belong to God, and anyone who knows God listens to us, while anyone who does not belong to God refuses to hear us. This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.(E)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.