Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
2 “Blow the trumpet in Zion! And shout on My Holy Mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the Day of the LORD has come. For it is at hand,
2 “a day of darkness, and of blackness, a day of clouds and obscurity. As the morning spread upon the mountains, so is there a great people, and mighty. There was none like it from the beginning, nor shall there be any after it, until the years of many generations.”
12 Therefore also, now the LORD says: “Turn yourself to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.”
13 And tear your heart and not your clothes. And turn to the LORD your God. For He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and relents from misery.
14 Who knows if He will turn and relent and leave a blessing behind Him, a Meat Offering and a Drink Offering to the LORD your God?
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion! Sanctify a fast! Call a solemn assembly.
16 Gather the people. Sanctify the Congregation. Gather the elders. Assemble the children and the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride out of her bride chamber.
17 Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the Porch and the Altar. And let them say, “Spare Your people, O LORD! And do not give Your heritage over to reproach, so that the heathen would rule over them. Why should they say among the people, ‘Where is their God?’”
58 “Cry aloud! Do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet and show My people their transgression, and to the House of Jacob their sins.
2 “Still, they seek Me daily, and would know My ways, even as a nation that did righteously, and had not forsaken the Statutes of their God. They ask of Me the Ordinances of Justice. They will draw near to God, saying,
3 “‘Why do we fast and You do not see it? We punish ourselves and You do not regard it?’ Behold, on the day of your fast you will seek your will and require all your debts.
4 “Behold, you fast for strife and debate and to strike with the fist of wickedness. You shall not fast as you do today, to make your voice to be heard above.
5 “Is it such a fast that I have chosen, that a man should afflict his soul for a day, and to bow down his head, as a bull rush, and to lie down in sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, or an acceptable day to the LORD?
6 “Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loosen the bands of wickedness, to take off the heavy burdens and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?
7 “Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring the poor, who wander, into your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him and do not hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 “Then shall your light break forth as the morning and your health shall grow speedily. Your righteousness shall go before you. The Glory of the LORD shall embrace you.
9 “Then shall you call, and the LORD shall answer. You shall cry, and He shall say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from the midst of you, the putting forth of the finger and wicked speaking,
10 “if you pour out your soul to the hungry and refresh the troubled soul, then shall your light spring out in the darkness. And your darkness shall be as the noon day.
11 “And the LORD shall guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and make your bones fat. And you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
12 “And those who shall build the old waste places shall be from you. You shall raise up the foundations for many generations. And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of the Paths to dwell in.
51 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness. According to the multitude of Your compassions, put away my iniquities.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity; and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my iniquities; and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against You, against You only, have I sinned and done evil in Your sight; that You may be just when You speak and pure when You judge.
5 Behold, I was born in iniquity; and in sin my mother conceived me.
6 Behold, You love truth to the core. Therefore, You have taught me wisdom in my core.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me hear joy and gladness; so that the bones which You have broken may rejoice.
9 Hide Your Face from my sins; and put away all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence; and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation; and establish me with Your free Spirit.
13 Then I shall teach Your ways to the wicked; and sinners shall be converted to You.
14 Deliver me from blood, O God, the God of my salvation; and my tongue shall sing joyfully of Your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, O LORD, and my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
16 For You desire no sacrifice, though I would give it. You do not delight in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a contrite spirit. A contrite and a broken heart, O God, You will not despise.
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God is exhorting you through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God!
21 For He has made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we should be made the righteousness of God in Him.
6 So we, therefore, as workers together, encourage you, that you do not receive the grace of God in vain.
2 For He says, “I have heard you at an acceptable time, and on the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold now the accepted time. Behold now the day of salvation.
3 We cause no one to stumble in anything, that the ministry should not be blamed.
4 But in all things, we commend ourselves as the ministers of God: in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
5 in stripes, in prisons, in instability, in labors;
6 by sleeplessness, by fasting, by purity, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love without hypocrisy;
7 by the Word of Truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand, and on the left;
8 by honor and dishonor; by evil report and good report; as deceivers and yet true;
9 as unknown and yet known; as dying and behold, we live; as chastised and yet not killed;
10 as grieving and yet always rejoicing; as poor and yet making many rich; as having nothing and yet possessing all things.
6 “Be careful that you do not give your alms before men to be seen by them. Or else you shall have no reward from your Father Who is in Heaven.
2 “Therefore, when you give your alms, you shall not make a trumpet to be blown before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, to be praised by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward.
3 “But when you do your alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand does.
4 “so that your alms may be in secret. And your Father, Who sees in secret, He will reward you openly.
5 “And when you pray, do not be as the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, because they wish to be seen by man. Truly I say to you, they have their reward.
6 “But when you pray, enter into your chamber. And when you have shut your door, pray to your Father Who is in secret. And your Father, Who sees in secret, shall reward you openly.
16 “Moreover, when you fast, do not look sour as the hypocrites. For they disfigure their faces, to show men that they are fasting. Truly I say to you that they have their reward.
17 “But when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face,
18 “so that you do not fast for man to see, but your Father, Who is in secret. And your Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you openly.
19 “Do not lay up treasures for yourselves on the Earth, where the moth and rust corrupt, and where thieves dig through and steal.
20 “But lay up treasures for yourselves in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrupts, and where thieves neither dig through nor steal.
21 “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
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