Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
50 1 Because the Church is always full of hypocrites, 8 which do imagine that God will be worshipped with outward ceremonies only without the heart: and especially the Jews were of this opinion, because of their figures and ceremonies of the Law, thinking that their sacrifices were sufficient. 21 Therefore the Prophet doth reprove this gross error, and pronounceth the Name of God to be blasphemed where holiness is set in ceremonies. 23 For he declareth the worship of God to be spiritual, whereof are two principal parts, invocation and thanksgiving.
A Psalm of [a]Asaph.
1 The God of gods, even the Lord hath spoken and called the [b]earth from the rising up of the Sun, unto the going down thereof.
2 Out of Zion, which is the [c]perfection of beauty, hath God shined.
3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: [d]a fire shall devour before him, and a mighty tempest shall be moved round about him.
4 He shall call the heaven above, and [e]the earth to judge his people.
5 Gather my [f]Saints together unto me, those that make a covenant with me with [g]sacrifice.
6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is Judge himself. Selah.
7 Hear, O my people and I will speak: hear, O Israel, and I will testify unto thee: for I am God, even thy God.
8 I will not [h]reprove thee for thy sacrifices, or thy burnt offerings, that have not been continually before me.
9 I will take no bullock out of thine house, nor goats out of thy folds.
10 [i]For all the beasts of the forest are mine, and the beasts on a thousand mountains.
11 I know all the fowls on the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
12 If I be hungry, I will not tell thee: for the world is mine and all that therein is.
13 [j]Will I eat the flesh of bulls? or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer unto God praise, and [k]pay thy vows unto the most High,
15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: so will I deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
16 But unto the wicked said God, [l]What hast thou to do to declare mine ordinances, that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth,
17 Seeing thou hatest [m]to be reformed, and hast cast my words behind thee?
18 For when thou seest a thief, [n]thou runnest with him, and thou art partaker with the adulterers.
19 Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and with thy tongue thou forgest deceit.
20 Thou [o]sittest, and speakest against thy brother, and slanderest thy mother’s son.
21 These things hast thou done, and I held my tongue: therefore thou thoughtest that I was like thee: but I will reprove thee, and [p]set them in order before thee.
22 Oh consider this ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none that can deliver you.
23 He that offereth [q]praise, shall glorify me: and to him that [r]disposeth his way aright, will I [s]show the salvation of God.
7 5 The true fasting. 11 The rebellion of the people is the cause of their affliction.
1 And in the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in [a]Chislev,
2 For [b]they had sent unto the House of God Sharezer, and Regem-Melech and their men to pray before the Lord,
3 And to speak unto the Priests, which were in the House of the Lord of hosts, and to the Prophets, saying, Should I [c]weep in the fifth month, and [d]separate myself as I have done these so many [e]years?
4 Then came the word of the Lord of hosts unto me, saying,
5 Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the [f]Priests, and say, When ye fasted, and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even the seventy years, did ye fast unto me? [g]do I approve it?
6 And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did ye not eat[h]for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?
7 Should ye not hear the words which the Lord [i]hath cried by the ministry of the former Prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited, and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when the South and the plain was inhabited?
8 And the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, saying,
9 Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, [j]Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassion, every man to his brother,
10 And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger nor the poor, and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.
11 But they refused to hearken, and [k]pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
12 Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the Law and the words which the Lord of hosts sent in his [l]Spirit by the ministry of the former Prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts.
13 Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear, so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts.
14 But I scattered them among all the nations, whom they knew not: thus the land was desolate [m]after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land [n]waste.
5 [a]I will therefore put you in remembrance, forasmuch as ye once knew this, how that the Lord, after that he had delivered the people out of Egypt, (A)destroyed them afterward which believed not.
6 [b]The (B)Angels also which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
7 As (C)Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, which in like manner as they did, [c]committed fornication, and followed [d]strange flesh, are set forth for an example, and suffer the vengeance of eternal fire.
8 Likewise notwithstanding these [e]sleepers also defile the flesh, [f]and despise [g]government, and speak evil of them that are in authority.
9 [h]Yet Michael the Archangel, when he strove against the devil, and disputed about the body of Moses, durst not blame him with cursed speaking, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
10 [i]But these speak evil of those things, which they know not: and whatsoever things they know naturally as beasts, which are without reason, in those things they corrupt themselves.
11 [j]Woe be unto them: for they have followed the way (D)of Cain, and are cast away by the deceit (E)of Balaam’s wages, and perish in the gainsaying (F)of Korah.
12 [k]These are rocks in your [l]feasts of charity, when they feast with you, without [m]all fear, feeding themselves: (G)clouds they are without water, carried about of winds, corrupt trees and without fruit, twice dead, and plucked up by the roots.
13 They are the raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shames: they are wandering stars, to whom is reserved the [n]blackness of darkness forever.
14 And Enoch also the seventh from Adam, prophesied of such, saying, (H)Behold, the Lord [o]cometh with thousands of his Saints,
15 To give judgment against all men, and to rebuke all the ungodly among them of all their wicked deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their cruel speakings, which wicked sinners have spoken against him.
16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts: (I)whose mouths speak proud things, having men’s persons in admiration, because of advantage.
17 [p]But, ye beloved, remember the words which were spoken before of the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ:
18 How that they told you that there should be mockers (J)in the last time, which should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
19 [q]These are they that separate themselves from others, natural, having not the Spirit.
20 But, ye beloved, edify yourselves in your most holy faith, praying in the holy Ghost.
21 And keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto eternal life.
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