Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 37

[A Psalm] of David.

¹ Fret not yourself because of evildoers, neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness (that which is not upright or in right standing with God).

² For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.

³ Trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) in the Lord and do good; so shall you dwell in the land and feed surely on His faithfulness, and truly you shall be fed.

⁴ Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart.

⁵ Commit your way to the Lord [roll and repose each care of your load on Him]; trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) also in Him and He will bring it to pass.

⁶ And He will make your uprightness and right standing with God go forth as the light, and your justice and right as [the shining sun of] the noonday.

⁷ Be still and rest in the Lord; wait for Him and patiently lean yourself upon Him; fret not yourself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass.

⁸ Cease from anger and forsake wrath; fret not yourself—it tends only to evildoing.

⁹ For evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait and hope and look for the Lord [in the end] shall inherit the earth.^(A)

⁸ So the Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah [a fortified city of Judah]; for he had heard that the king had left Lachish.

⁹ And Sennacherib king of Assyria heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He has come to make war against you. And when he heard it, he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying,

¹⁰ Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah: Let not your God on Whom you rely deceive you by saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

¹¹ Behold, you have heard what the Assyrian kings have done to all lands, destroying them utterly. And shall you be delivered?

¹² Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my ancestors have destroyed, as Gozan, Haran [of Mesopotamia], Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?

¹³ Where are the kings of Hamath, of Arpad [of northern Syria], of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?

¹⁴ Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. And he went up into the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord.^(A)

¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed: O Lord, the God of Israel, Who [in symbol] is enthroned above the cherubim [of the ark in the temple], You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made the heavens and the earth.

¹⁶ Lord, bow down Your ear and hear; Lord, open Your eyes and see; hear the words of Sennacherib which he has sent to mock, reproach, insult, and defy the living God.

¹⁷ It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste the nations and their lands

¹⁸ And have cast the gods of those peoples into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they [could destroy and] have destroyed them.

¹⁹ Now therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech You, save us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know and understand that You, O Lord, are God alone.

²⁰ Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Your prayer to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.^(B)

³⁵ And it all came to pass, for that night the ^[a]Angel of the Lord went forth and slew 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when [the living] arose early in the morning, behold, all these were dead bodies.

³⁶ So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned and dwelt at Nineveh.

³⁷ And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Armenia or Ararat. Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

¹² Then to the angel (messenger) of the assembly (church) in Pergamum write: These are the words of Him Who has and wields the sharp two-edged sword:

¹³ I know where you live—a place where Satan sits enthroned. [Yet] you are clinging to and holding fast My name, and you did not deny My faith, even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed (martyred) in your midst—where Satan dwells.

¹⁴ Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: you have some people there who are clinging to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to set a trap and a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, [to entice them] to eat food that had been sacrificed to idols and to practice lewdness [giving themselves up to sexual vice].^(A)

¹⁵ You also have some who in a similar way are clinging to the teaching of the Nicolaitans [those corrupters of the people] which thing I hate.

¹⁶ Repent [then]! Or else I will come to you quickly and fight against them with the sword of My mouth.

¹⁷ He who is able to hear, let him listen to and heed what the Spirit says to the assemblies (churches). To him who overcomes (conquers), I will give to eat of the manna that is hidden, and I will give him a white stone with a new name engraved on the stone, which no one knows or understands except he who receives it.^(B)

¹⁸ And to the angel (messenger) of the assembly (church) in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, Who has eyes that flash like a flame of fire, and Whose feet glow like bright and burnished and white-hot bronze:^(C)

¹⁹ I know your record and what you are doing, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your recent works are more numerous and greater than your first ones.

²⁰ But I have this against you: that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess [claiming to be inspired], and who is teaching and leading astray my servants and beguiling them into practicing sexual vice and eating food sacrificed to idols.^(D)

²¹ I gave her time to repent, but she has no desire to repent of her immorality [symbolic of idolatry] and refuses to do so.

²² Take note: I will throw her on a bed [^[a]of anguish], and those who commit adultery with her [her paramours] I will bring down to ^[b]pressing distress and severe affliction, unless they turn away their minds from conduct [such as] hers and repent of ^[c]their doings.

²³ And I will strike her children (her proper followers) dead [thoroughly exterminating them]. And all the assemblies (churches) shall recognize and understand that I am He Who searches minds (the thoughts, feelings, and purposes) and the [inmost] hearts, and I will give to each of you [the reward for what you have done] as your work deserves.^(E)

²⁴ But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not explored and known the depths of Satan, as they say—I tell you that I do not lay upon you any other [fresh] burden:

²⁵ Only hold fast to what you have until I come.

²⁶ And he who overcomes (is victorious) and who obeys My commands to the [very] end [doing the works that please Me], I will give him authority and power over the nations;

²⁷ And he shall rule them with a sceptre (rod) of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, and [his power over them shall be] like that which I Myself have received from My Father;^(F)

²⁸ And I will give him the Morning Star.

²⁹ He who is able to hear, let him listen to and heed what the [Holy] Spirit says to the assemblies (churches).