Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 40

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

¹ I waited patiently and expectantly for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry.

² He drew me up out of a horrible pit [a pit of tumult and of destruction], out of the miry clay (froth and slime), and set my feet upon a rock, steadying my steps and establishing my goings.

³ And He has put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many shall see and fear (revere and worship) and put their trust and confident reliance in the Lord.^(A)

⁴ Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who makes the Lord his refuge and trust, and turns not to the proud or to followers of false gods.

⁵ Many, O Lord my God, are the wonderful works which You have done, and Your thoughts toward us; no one can compare with You! If I should declare and speak of them, they are too many to be numbered.

⁶ Sacrifice and offering You do not desire, nor have You delight in them; You have given me the capacity to hear and obey [Your law, a more valuable service than] burnt offerings and sin offerings [which] You do not require.

⁷ Then said I, Behold, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me;

⁸ I delight to do Your will, O my God; yes, Your law is within my heart.^(B)

²⁵ And if a woman has an issue of blood for many days, not during the time of her separation, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her [regular] impurity, all the days of the issue of her uncleanness she shall be as in the days of her impurity; she shall be unclean.^(A)

²⁶ Every bed on which she lies all the days of her discharge shall be as the bed of her impurity, and whatever she sits on shall be unclean, as in her impurity.

²⁷ And whoever touches those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until evening.

²⁸ But if she is cleansed of her discharge, then she shall wait seven days, and after that she shall be clean.

²⁹ And on the eighth day she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the door of the Tent of Meeting;

³⁰ He shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering; and he shall make atonement for her before the Lord for her unclean discharge.

³¹ Thus you shall separate the Israelites from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by defiling My tabernacle that is in the midst of them.

22 And the Lord said to Moses,

² Say to Aaron and his sons that they shall stay away from the holy things which the Israelites dedicate to Me, that they may not profane My holy name; I am the Lord.

³ Tell them, Any one of your offspring throughout your generations who goes to the holy things which the Israelites dedicate to the Lord when he is unclean, that [priest] shall be cut off from My presence and excluded from the sanctuary; I am the Lord.

⁴ No man of the offspring of Aaron who is a leper or has a discharge shall eat of the holy things [the offerings and the showbread] until he is clean. And whoever touches any person or thing made unclean by contact with a corpse or a man who has had a discharge of semen,

⁵ Or whoever touches any dead creeping thing by which he may be made unclean, or a man from whom he may acquire uncleanness, whatever it may be,^(A)

⁶ The priest who has touched any such thing shall be unclean until evening and shall not eat of the holy things unless he has bathed with water.^(B)

⁷ When the sun is down, he shall be clean, and afterward may eat of the holy things, for they are his food.

⁸ That which dies of itself or is torn by beasts he shall not eat, defiling himself with it. I am the Lord.

⁹ The priests therefore shall observe My ordinance, lest they bear sin for it and die thereby if they profane it. I am the Lord, Who sanctifies them.

¹⁴ Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers [do not make mismated alliances with them or come under a different yoke with them, inconsistent with your faith]. For what partnership have right living and right standing with God with iniquity and lawlessness? Or how can light have fellowship with darkness?

¹⁵ What harmony can there be between Christ and Belial [the devil]? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?

¹⁶ What agreement [can there be between] a temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in and with and among them and will walk in and with and among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.^(A)

¹⁷ So, come out from among [unbelievers], and separate (sever) yourselves from them, says the Lord, and touch not [any] unclean thing; then I will receive you kindly and treat you with favor,^(B)

¹⁸ And I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.^(C)

7 Therefore, since these [great] promises are ours, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that contaminates and defiles body and spirit, and bring [our] consecration to completeness in the [reverential] fear of God.

² Do open your hearts to us again [enlarge them to take us in]. We have wronged no one, we have betrayed or corrupted no one, we have cheated or taken advantage of no one.