Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

6 Woe to those who are at ease in Zion and to those on the mountain of Samaria who are careless and feel secure, the notable men of the chief [because chosen by God] of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes!^(A)

⁴ Woe to those who lie upon beds of ivory and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock and the calves out of the midst of the stall,

⁵ Who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and invent for themselves instruments of music like David’s,^(A)

⁶ Who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved and sick at heart over the affliction and ruin of Joseph (Israel)!^(B)

⁷ Therefore now shall they go captive with the first who go into exile, and the revelry and banqueting of those who stretch themselves shall be ended.

Psalm 146

¹ Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) Praise the Lord, O my soul!

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

³ Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no help.

⁴ When his breath leaves him, he returns to his earth; in that very day his [previous] thoughts, plans, and purposes perish.^(A)

⁵ Happy (blessed, fortunate, enviable) is he who has the God of [special revelation to] Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God,^(B)

⁶ Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, Who keeps truth and is faithful forever,

⁷ Who executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets free the prisoners,

⁸ The Lord opens the eyes of the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the [uncompromisingly] righteous (those upright in heart and in right standing with Him).^(C)

⁹ The Lord protects and preserves the strangers and temporary residents, He upholds the fatherless and the widow and sets them upright, but the way of the wicked He makes crooked (turns upside down and brings to ruin).

¹⁰ The Lord shall reign forever, even Your God, O Zion, from generation to generation. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)^(D)

⁶ [And it is, indeed, a source of immense profit, for] godliness accompanied with contentment (that contentment which is a sense of ^[a]inward sufficiency) is great and abundant gain.

⁷ For we brought nothing into the world, and obviously we cannot take anything out of the world;

⁸ But if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content (satisfied).

⁹ But those who crave to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish (useless, godless) and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction and miserable perishing.

¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have been led astray and have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves through with many ^[b]acute [mental] pangs.

¹¹ But as for you, O man of God, flee from all these things; aim at and pursue righteousness (right standing with God and true goodness), godliness (which is the loving fear of God and being Christlike), faith, love, steadfastness (patience), and gentleness of heart.

¹² Fight the good fight of the faith; lay hold of the eternal life to which you were summoned and [for which] you confessed the good confession [of faith] before many witnesses.

¹³ In the presence of God, Who preserves alive all living things, and of Christ Jesus, Who in His testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I [solemnly] charge you

¹⁴ To keep all His precepts unsullied and flawless, irreproachable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Anointed One),

¹⁵ Which [appearing] will be shown forth in His own proper time by the blessed, only Sovereign (Ruler), the King of kings and the Lord of lords,

¹⁶ Who alone has immortality [in the sense of exemption from every kind of death] and lives in unapproachable light, Whom no man has ever seen or can see. Unto Him be honor and everlasting power and dominion. Amen (so be it).

¹⁷ As for the rich in this world, charge them not to be proud and arrogant and contemptuous of others, nor to set their hopes on uncertain riches, but on God, Who richly and ceaselessly provides us with everything for [our] enjoyment.

¹⁸ [Charge them] to do good, to be rich in good works, to be liberal and generous of heart, ready to share [with others],

¹⁹ In this way laying up for themselves [the riches that endure forever as] a good foundation for the future, so that they may grasp that which is life indeed.

¹⁹ There was a certain rich man who [habitually] clothed himself in purple and fine linen and ^[a]reveled and feasted and made merry in splendor every day.

²⁰ And at his gate there ^[b]was [carelessly] dropped down and left a certain ^[c]utterly destitute man named Lazarus, [reduced to begging alms and] covered with [^[d]ulcerated] sores.

²¹ He [eagerly] desired to be satisfied with what fell from the rich man’s table; moreover, the dogs even came and licked his sores.

²² And it occurred that the man [reduced to] begging died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.

²³ And in Hades (the realm of the dead), being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom.

²⁴ And he cried out and said, Father Abraham, have pity and mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.

²⁵ But Abraham said, Child, remember that you in your lifetime fully received [what is due you in] comforts and delights, and Lazarus in like manner the discomforts and distresses; but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish.

²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who want to pass from this [place] to you may not be able, and no one may pass from there to us.

²⁷ And [the man] said, Then, father, I beseech you to send him to my father’s house—

²⁸ For I have five brothers—so that he may give [solemn] testimony and warn them, lest they too come into this place of torment.

²⁹ But Abraham said, They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear and listen to them.

³⁰ But he answered, No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent (^[e]change their minds for the better and heartily amend their ways, with abhorrence of their past sins).

³¹ He said to him, If they do not hear and listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded and convinced and believe [even] if someone should rise from the dead.