Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 116

¹ I love the Lord, because He has heard [and now hears] my voice and my supplications.

² Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live.

³ The cords and sorrows of death were around me, and the terrors of Sheol (the place of the dead) had laid hold of me; I suffered anguish and grief (trouble and sorrow).

⁴ Then called I upon the name of the Lord: O Lord, I beseech You, save my life and deliver me!

¹² What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me? [How can I repay Him for all His bountiful dealings?]

¹³ I will lift up the cup of salvation and deliverance and call on the name of the Lord.

¹⁴ I will pay my vows to the Lord, yes, in the presence of all His people.

¹⁵ Precious (important and no light matter) in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints (His loving ones).

¹⁶ O Lord, truly I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your handmaid; You have loosed my bonds.

¹⁷ I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call on the name of the Lord.

¹⁸ I will pay my vows to the Lord, yes, in the presence of all His people,

¹⁹ In the courts of the Lord’s house—in the midst of you, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)

⁶ And on this Mount [Zion] shall the Lord of hosts make for all peoples a feast of rich things [symbolic of His coronation festival inaugurating the reign of the Lord on earth, in the wake of a background of gloom, judgment, and terror], a feast of wines on the lees—of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.

⁷ And He will destroy on this mountain the covering of the face that is cast over the heads of all peoples [in mourning], and the veil [of profound wretchedness] that is woven and spread over all nations.

⁸ He will swallow up death [in victory; He will abolish death forever]. And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; and the reproach of His people He will take away from off all the earth; for the Lord has spoken it.^(A)

⁹ It shall be said in that day, Behold our God upon Whom we have waited and hoped, that He might save us! This is the Lord, we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.

¹² Jesus also said to the man who had invited Him, When you give a dinner or a supper, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, lest perhaps they also invite you in return, and so you are paid back.

¹³ But when you give a banquet or a reception, invite the poor, the disabled, the lame, and the blind.

¹⁴ Then you will be blessed (happy, fortunate, and ^[a]to be envied), because they have no way of repaying you, and you will be recompensed at the resurrection of the just (upright).