Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

146 Praise the LORD, O my soul!

² I will praise the LORD during my life. As long as I have any being, I will sing to my God.

³ Do not put your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, for there is no help in him.

⁴ His breath departs. He returns to his earth. Then, his thoughts perish.

⁵ Blessed is he who has 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 keeps his fidelity forever.

⁷ Who executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives bread to the hungry. The LORD frees the prisoners.

⁸ The LORD gives sight to the blind. The LORD raises up the crooked. The LORD loves the righteous.

⁹ The LORD keeps the strangers. He relieves the fatherless and widow; but He overthrows the way of the wicked.

¹⁰ The LORD shall reign forever! O Zion, your God endures from generation to generation. Praise the LORD!

² The rich and poor meet together, the LORD the maker of them all.

³ A prudent man sees the plague and hides himself. But the foolish go on still, and are punished.

⁴ The reward of humility and the fear of God is riches and glory and life.

⁵ Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse. But he who guards his soul will depart far from them.

⁶ Teach a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he shall not depart from it.

⁷ The rich rules the poor. And the borrower is servant to the lender.

⁸ He who sows iniquity shall reap affliction. And the rod of his anger shall fail.

⁹ He who has a generous eye shall be blessed, for he gives his bread to the poor.

¹⁰ Cast out the scoffer, and strife shall go out. Indeed, contention and dishonor shall cease.

¹¹ He who loves pureness of heart shall the king befriend, because of the grace of his lips.

¹² The eyes of the LORD preserve knowledge. But He overthrows the words of the transgressor.

¹³ The slothful says, “A lion is outside. I shall be killed in the street.”

¹⁴ The mouth of strange women is as a deep pit. He with whom the LORD is angry shall fall therein.

¹⁵ Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child. But the rod of correction shall drive it away from him.

¹⁶ He who oppresses the poor for his own gain, giving to the rich, shall surely come to poverty.

⁸ This I say not by Commandment, but because of the diligence of others. Therefore, I prove the sincerity of your love.

⁹ For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: that He, being rich, became poor for your sakes. So that you, through his poverty, might be made rich.

¹⁰ And in this I give my counsel. For it is profitable for those of you who a year ago began not only to do, but also to will.

¹¹ Now therefore, complete the doing of it also. So that as there was a readiness of will, you may also complete it out of that which you have.

¹² For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted, according to what one has, and not according to what he has not.

¹³ Nor should others be eased, and you grieved. But out of equality, your abundance supplies their lack at this time.

¹⁴ And also their abundance may be for your lack, that there may be equality.

¹⁵ As it is written, “He who gathered much, did not abound, and he who gathered little, did not lack.