Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 121

A Song of ^[a]Ascents.

¹ I will lift up my eyes to the hills [around Jerusalem, to sacred Mount Zion and Mount Moriah]—From whence shall my help come?^(A)

² My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.

³ He will not allow your foot to slip or to be moved; He Who keeps you will not slumber.^(B)

⁴ Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand [the side not carrying a shield].^(C)

⁶ The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night.^(D)

⁷ The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life.

⁸ The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.^(E)

⁴³ Laban answered Jacob, These daughters are my daughters, these children are my children, these flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do today to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne?

⁴⁴ So come now, let us make a covenant or league, you and I, and let it be for a witness between you and me.

⁴⁵ So Jacob set up a stone for a pillar or monument.

⁴⁶ And Jacob said to his brethren, Gather stones; and they took stones and made a heap, and they ate [together] there upon the heap.^(A)

⁴⁷ Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha [witness heap, in Aramaic], but Jacob called it Galeed [^[a]witness heap, in Hebrew.]

⁴⁸ Laban said, This heap is a witness today between you and me. Therefore it was named Galeed.

⁴⁹ And [the pillar or monument was called] Mizpah [watchpost], for he [Laban] said, May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent and hidden one from another.

⁵⁰ If you should afflict, humiliate, or lower [divorce] my daughters, or if you should take other wives beside my daughters, although no man is with us [to witness], see (remember), God is witness between you and me.

⁵¹ And Laban said to Jacob, See this heap and this pillar, which I have set up between you and me.

⁵² This heap is a witness and this pillar is a witness, that I will not pass by this heap to you, and that you will not pass by this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.

⁵³ The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, and the god [the object of worship] of their father [Terah, an idolator], judge between us. But Jacob swore [only] by [the one true God] the Dread and Fear of his father Isaac.^(B)

⁵⁴ Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and called his brethren to eat food; and they ate food and lingered all night on the mountain.

⁵⁵ And early in the morning Laban rose up and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and pronounced a blessing [asking God’s favor] on them. Then Laban departed and returned to his home.

32 Then Jacob went on his way, and God’s angels met him.

² When Jacob saw them, he said, This is God’s army! So he named that place Mahanaim [two armies].^(C)

¹⁴ Remind [the people] of these facts and [solemnly] charge them in the presence of the Lord to avoid petty controversy over words, which does no good but upsets and undermines the faith of the hearers.

¹⁵ Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth.

¹⁶ But avoid all empty (vain, useless, idle) talk, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness.

¹⁷ And their teaching [will devour; it] will eat its way like cancer or spread like gangrene. So it is with Hymenaeus and Philetus,

¹⁸ Who have missed the mark and swerved from the truth by arguing that the resurrection has already taken place. They are undermining the faith of some.

¹⁹ But the firm foundation of (laid by) God stands, sure and unshaken, bearing this seal (inscription): The Lord knows those who are His, and, Let everyone who names [himself by] the name of the Lord give up all iniquity and stand aloof from it.^(A)

²⁰ But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also [utensils] of wood and earthenware, and some for honorable and noble [use] and some for menial and ignoble [use].

²¹ So whoever cleanses himself [from what is ignoble and unclean, who separates himself from contact with contaminating and corrupting influences] will [then himself] be a vessel set apart and useful for honorable and noble purposes, consecrated and profitable to the Master, fit and ready for any good work.

²² Shun youthful lusts and flee from them, and aim at and pursue righteousness (all that is virtuous and good, right living, conformity to the will of God in thought, word, and deed); [and aim at and pursue] faith, love, [and] peace (harmony and concord with others) in fellowship with all [Christians], who call upon the Lord out of a pure heart.

²³ But refuse (shut your mind against, have nothing to do with) trifling (ill-informed, unedifying, stupid) controversies over ignorant questionings, for you know that they foster strife and breed quarrels.

²⁴ And the servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome (fighting and contending). Instead, he must be kindly to everyone and mild-tempered [preserving the bond of peace]; he must be a skilled and suitable teacher, patient and forbearing and willing to suffer wrong.

²⁵ He must correct his opponents with courtesy and gentleness, in the hope that God may grant that they will repent and come to know the Truth [that they will perceive and recognize and become accurately acquainted with and acknowledge it],

²⁶ And that they may come to their senses [and] escape out of the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him, [henceforth] to do His [God’s] will.