Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
4 Hear this, you who [a]swallow up the needy,
And make the poor of the land fail,
5 Saying:
The Majesty and Condescension of God
113 Praise[a] the Lord!
(A)Praise, O servants of the Lord,
Praise the name of the Lord!
2 (B)Blessed be the name of the Lord
From this time forth and forevermore!
3 (C)From the rising of the sun to its going down
The Lord’s name is to be praised.
4 The Lord is (D)high above all nations,
(E)His glory above the heavens.
5 (F)Who is like the Lord our God,
Who dwells on high,
6 (G)Who humbles Himself to behold
The things that are in the heavens and in the earth?
7 (H)He raises the poor out of the dust,
And lifts the (I)needy out of the ash heap,
8 That He may (J)seat him with princes—
With the princes of His people.
9 (K)He grants the [b]barren woman a home,
Like a joyful mother of children.
Praise the Lord!
Pray for All Men
2 Therefore I [a]exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 (A)for kings and (B)all who are in [b]authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and [c]reverence. 3 For this is (C)good and acceptable in the sight (D)of God our Savior, 4 (E)who desires all men to be saved (F)and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 (G)For there is one God and (H)one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 (I)who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, 7 (J)for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am speaking the truth [d]in Christ and not lying—(K)a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
The Parable of the Unjust Steward
16 He also said to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was [a]wasting his goods. 2 So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an (A)account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’
3 “Then the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.’
5 “So he called every one of his master’s debtors to him, and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 And he said, ‘A hundred [b]measures of oil.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ So he said, ‘A hundred [c]measures of wheat.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 8 So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than (B)the sons of light.
9 “And I say to you, (C)make friends for yourselves by unrighteous [d]mammon, that when [e]you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home. 10 (D)He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your (E)own?
13 (F)“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.