Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 12
For the music leader. According to the Sheminith.[a] A psalm of David.
12 Help, Lord, because the godly are all gone;
the faithful have completely disappeared
from the human race!
2 Everyone tells lies to everyone else;
they talk with slick speech and divided hearts.
3 Let the Lord cut off all slick-talking lips
and every tongue that brags and brags,
4 that says, “We’re unbeatable with our tongues!
Who could get the best of us with lips like ours?”
5 But the Lord says,
“Because the poor are oppressed,
because of the groans of the needy,
I’m now standing up.
I will provide the help they are gasping for.”[b]
6 The Lord’s promises are pure,
like silver that’s been refined in an oven,
purified seven times over!
7 You, Lord, will keep us,[c]
protecting us from this generation forever.
8 The wicked roam all over the place,
while depravity is praised by human beings.
17 Better a dry crust with quiet
than a house full of feasting with quarrels.
2 An insightful servant rules over a disgraceful son
and will divide an inheritance
with the brothers.
3 A crucible is for silver and a furnace for gold,
but the Lord tests the heart.
4 An evildoer pays attention to guilty lips;
a liar listens to a destructive tongue.
5 Those who mock the poor insult their maker;
those who rejoice in disaster won’t go unpunished.
19 Although I’m free from all people, I make myself a slave to all people, to recruit more of them. 20 I act like a Jew to the Jews, so I can recruit Jews. I act like I’m under the Law to those under the Law, so I can recruit those who are under the Law (though I myself am not under the Law). 21 I act like I’m outside the Law to those who are outside the Law, so I can recruit those outside the Law (though I’m not outside the law of God but rather under the law of Christ). 22 I act weak to the weak, so I can recruit the weak. I have become all things to all people, so I could save some by all possible means. 23 All the things I do are for the sake of the gospel, so I can be a partner with it.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible