Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David; when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba.

51 Be gracious unto me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness; according to the abundance of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.

² Wash me fully from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

³ For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is continually before me.

⁴ Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done what is evil in thy sight; that thou mayest be justified when thou speakest, be clear when thou judgest.

⁵ Behold, in iniquity was I brought forth, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

⁶ Behold, thou wilt have truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden [part] thou wilt make me to know wisdom.

⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

⁸ Make me to hear gladness and joy; [that] the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

⁹ Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

¹¹ Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not the spirit of thy holiness from me.

¹² Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and let a willing spirit sustain me.

¹³ I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall return unto thee.

¹⁴ Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.

¹⁵ Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare thy praise.

¹⁶ For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou hast no pleasure in burnt-offering.

¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

¹⁸ Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion; build the walls of Jerusalem.

¹⁹ Then shalt thou have sacrifices of righteousness, burnt-offering, and whole burnt-offering; then shall they offer up bullocks upon thine altar.

58 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and declare unto my people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins.

² Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that doeth righteousness, and hath not forsaken the ordinance of their God; they ask of me the ordinances of righteousness, they take delight in approaching to God:

³ —Wherefore have we fasted, and thou seest not; have afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find what pleaseth [you], and exact all your labours.

⁴ Behold, ye have fasted for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness; ye do not at present fast, to cause your voice to be heard on high.

⁵ Is such the fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul,—that he should bow down his head as a bulrush, and spread sackcloth and ashes [under him]? Wilt thou call this a fast, and a day acceptable to Jehovah?

⁶ Is not this the fast which I have chosen: to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, and to send forth free the crushed, and that ye break every yoke?

⁷ Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring to thy house the needy wanderers; when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

⁸ Then shall thy light break forth as the dawn, and thy health shall spring forth speedily; and thy righteousness shall go before thee, the glory of Jehovah shall be thy rearguard.

⁹ Then shalt thou call, and Jehovah will answer; thou shalt cry, and he will say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger and the unjust speech,

¹⁰ and thou proffer thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then shall thy light rise in the darkness, and thine obscurity be as midday;

¹¹ and Jehovah will guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and strengthen thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a water-spring, whose waters deceive not.

¹² And they [that come] of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations [that have remained] from generation to generation; and thou shalt be called, Repairer of the breaches, restorer of frequented paths.

18 In that hour the disciples came to Jesus saying, Who then is greatest in the kingdom of the heavens?

² And Jesus having called a little child to [him], set it in their midst,

³ and said, Verily I say to you, Unless ye are converted and become as little children, ye will not at all enter into the kingdom of the heavens.

⁴ Whoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, *he* is the greatest in the kingdom of the heavens;

⁵ and whosoever shall receive one such little child in my name, receives me.

⁶ But whosoever shall offend one of these little ones who believe in me, it were profitable for him that a great millstone had been hanged upon his neck and he be sunk in the depths of the sea.

⁷ Woe to the world because of offences! For it must needs be that offences come; yet woe to that man by whom the offence comes!