Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 15

A Psalm of David.

¹ Lord, who shall dwell [temporarily] in Your tabernacle? Who shall dwell [permanently] on Your holy hill?

² He who walks and lives uprightly and blamelessly, who works rightness and justice and speaks and thinks the truth in his heart,

³ He who does not slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his friend, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor;

⁴ In whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he who honors those who fear the Lord (who revere and worship Him); who swears to his own hurt and does not change;

⁵ [He who] does not put out his money for ^[a]interest [to one of his own people] and who will not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.^(A)

¹⁷ You shall not pervert the justice due the stranger or the sojourner or the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge.

¹⁸ But you shall [earnestly] remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this.

¹⁹ When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the stranger and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

²⁰ When you beat your olive tree, do not go over the boughs again; the leavings shall be for the stranger and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.

²¹ When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.

²² You shall [earnestly] remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.

25 If there is a controversy between men, and they come into court and the judges decide between them, justifying the innocent and condemning the guilty,

² Then if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with a certain number of stripes according to his offense.

³ Forty stripes may be given him but not more, lest, if he should be beaten with many stripes, your brother should [be treated like a beast and] seem low and worthless to you.

⁴ You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the grain.^(A)

¹⁷ Let the elders who perform the duties of their office well be considered doubly worthy of honor [and of adequate ^[a]financial support], especially those who labor faithfully in preaching and teaching.

¹⁸ For the Scripture says, You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain, and again, The laborer is worthy of his hire.^(A)

¹⁹ Listen to no accusation [presented before a judge] against an elder unless it is confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses.^(B)

²⁰ As for those who are guilty and persist in sin, rebuke and admonish them in the presence of all, so that the rest may be warned and stand in wholesome awe and fear.

²¹ I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the chosen angels that you guard and keep [these rules] without personal prejudice or favor, doing nothing from partiality.

²² Do not be in a hurry in the laying on of hands [giving the sanction of the church too hastily in reinstating expelled offenders or in ordination in questionable cases], nor share or participate in another man’s sins; keep yourself pure.

²³ Drink water no longer exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.

²⁴ The sins of some men are conspicuous (openly evident to all eyes), going before them to the judgment [seat] and proclaiming their sentence in advance; but the sins of others appear later [following the offender to the bar of judgment and coming into view there].