Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

146 Praise ye the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!

² While I live will I praise the Lord; I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.

³ Put not your trust in princes, nor in a son of man in whom there is no help.

⁴ His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.

⁵ Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God,

⁶ who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that therein is, who keepeth truth for ever;

⁷ who executeth judgment for the oppressed, who giveth food to the hungry; the Lord looseth the prisoners.

⁸ The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind; the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down; the Lord loveth the righteous.

⁹ The Lord preserveth the strangers, He relieveth the fatherless and the widow; but the way of the wicked He turneth upside down.

¹⁰ The Lord shall reign for ever, even Thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the Lord!

² The rich and poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all.

³ A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass by and are punished.

⁴ With humility and the fear of the Lord come riches and honor and life.

⁵ Thorns and snares are in the path of the froward; he that doth keep his soul shall stay far from them.

⁶ Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

⁷ The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

⁸ He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity, and the rod of his anger shall fail.

⁹ He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed, for he giveth of his bread to the poor.

¹⁰ Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go away; yea, strife and reproach shall cease.

¹¹ He that loveth pureness of heart: for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.

¹² The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge, and He overthroweth the words of the transgressor.

¹³ The slothful man saith, “There is a lion without! I shall be slain in the streets!”

¹⁴ The mouth of a strange woman is a deep pit; he that is abhorred by the Lord shall fall therein.

¹⁵ Foolishness is bound into the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.

¹⁶ He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want.

⁸ I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forthcoming of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love.

⁹ For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.

¹⁰ And herein I give my advice, for this is expedient for you, who began earlier not only to do, but also to be in the forefront a year ago.

¹¹ Now therefore perform the doing of it, that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have.

¹² For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what a man hath, and not according to what he hath not.

¹³ For I do not mean that other men should be eased and ye burdened,

¹⁴ but that there be an equality: that now at this time your abundance may supply their want, that their abundance may also supply your want, that there may be equality.

¹⁵ As it is written: “He that had gathered much had nothing left over, and he that had gathered little had no lack.”