Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Ayin.
121 I have (A)done justice and righteousness;
Do not leave me to my oppressors.
122 Be (B)surety for Your servant for good;
Do not let the arrogant (C)oppress me.
123 My (D)eyes fail with longing for Your salvation
And for Your righteous [a]word.
124 Deal with Your servant (E)according to Your lovingkindness
And (F)teach me Your statutes.
125 (G)I am Your servant; (H)give me understanding,
That I may know Your testimonies.
126 It is time for the Lord to (I)act,
For they have broken Your law.
127 Therefore I (J)love Your commandments
Above gold, yes, above fine gold.
128 Therefore I esteem right all Your (K)precepts concerning everything,
I (L)hate every false way.
The Usefulness of Proverbs
1 The (A)proverbs of Solomon (B)the son of David, king of Israel:
2 To know (C)wisdom and instruction,
To discern the sayings of (D)understanding,
3 To (E)receive instruction in wise behavior,
(F)Righteousness, justice and equity;
4 To give (G)prudence to the [a]naive,
To the youth (H)knowledge and discretion,
5 A wise man will hear and (I)increase in learning,
And a (J)man of understanding will acquire wise counsel,
6 To understand a proverb and a figure,
The words of the wise and their (K)riddles.
7 (L)The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Wisdom Warns
20 (A)Wisdom shouts in the street,
She [a]lifts her voice in the square;
21 At the head of the noisy streets she cries out;
At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings:
22 “How long, O [b](B)naive ones, will you love [c]being simple-minded?
And (C)scoffers delight themselves in scoffing
And fools (D)hate knowledge?
23 “Turn to my reproof,
Behold, I will (E)pour out my spirit on you;
I will make my words known to you.
24 “Because (F)I called and you (G)refused,
I (H)stretched out my hand and no one paid attention;
25 And you (I)neglected all my counsel
And did not (J)want my reproof;
26 I will also (K)laugh at your (L)calamity;
I will mock when your (M)dread comes,
27 When your dread comes like a storm
And your calamity comes like a (N)whirlwind,
When distress and anguish come upon you.
28 “Then they will (O)call on me, but I will not answer;
They will (P)seek me diligently but they will not find me,
29 Because they (Q)hated knowledge
And did not choose the fear of the Lord.
30 “They (R)would not accept my counsel,
They spurned all my reproof.
31 “So they shall (S)eat of the fruit of their own way
And be (T)satiated with their own devices.
32 “For the (U)waywardness of the [d]naive will kill them,
And the complacency of fools will destroy them.
33 “But (V)he who listens to me shall [e]live securely
And will be at ease from the dread of evil.”
Parable of the Mustard Seed
30 (A)And He said, “How shall we [a](B)picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil, 32 yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that (C)the birds of the [b]air can nest under its shade.”
33 With many such parables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to hear it; 34 and He did not speak to them (D)without a parable; but He was (E)explaining everything privately to His own disciples.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.