Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Song to the Lord Who Preserves and Prospers His People
A Psalm of David.
144 Blessed be the Lord my Rock,
(A)Who trains my hands for war,
And my fingers for battle—
2 My lovingkindness and my fortress,
My high tower and my deliverer,
My shield and the One in whom I take refuge,
Who subdues [a]my people under me.
3 (B)Lord, what is man, that You take knowledge of him?
Or the son of man, that You are mindful of him?
4 (C)Man is like a breath;
(D)His days are like a passing shadow.
5 (E)Bow down Your heavens, O Lord, and come down;
(F)Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
6 (G)Flash forth lightning and scatter them;
Shoot out Your arrows and destroy them.
7 Stretch out Your hand from above;
Rescue me and deliver me out of great waters,
From the hand of foreigners,
8 Whose mouth (H)speaks [b]lying words,
And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
9 I will (I)sing a new song to You, O God;
On a harp of ten strings I will sing praises to You,
10 The One who gives [c]salvation to kings,
(J)Who delivers David His servant
From the deadly sword.
11 Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners,
Whose mouth speaks lying words,
And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood—
12 That our sons may be (K)as plants grown up in their youth;
That our daughters may be as [d]pillars,
Sculptured in palace style;
13 That our barns may be full,
Supplying all kinds of produce;
That our sheep may bring forth thousands
And ten thousands in our fields;
14 That our oxen may be well laden;
That there be no [e]breaking in or going out;
That there be no outcry in our streets.
15 (L)Happy are the people who are in such a state;
Happy are the people whose God is the Lord!
10 ‘Your mother was (A)like a vine in your [a]bloodline,
Planted by the waters,
(B)Fruitful and full of branches
Because of many waters.
11 She had strong branches for scepters of rulers.
(C)She towered in stature above the thick branches,
And was seen in her height amid the [b]dense foliage.
12 But she was (D)plucked up in fury,
She was cast down to the ground,
And the (E)east wind dried her fruit.
Her strong branches were broken and withered;
The fire consumed them.
13 And now she is planted in the wilderness,
In a dry and thirsty land.
14 (F)Fire has come out from a rod of her branches
And devoured her fruit,
So that she has no strong branch—a scepter for ruling.’ ”
(G)This is a lamentation, and has become a lamentation.
The Chosen Stone and His Chosen People(A)
4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, (B)rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,
(C)“Behold, I lay in Zion
A chief cornerstone, elect, precious,
And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”
7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who [a]are disobedient,
(D)“The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone,”
8 and
(E)“A stone of stumbling
And a rock of offense.”
(F)They stumble, being disobedient to the word, (G)to which they also were appointed.
9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of (H)darkness into His marvelous light; 10 (I)who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.