Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 144
Prayer for National Deliverance and Security
Of David.
1 Blessed be the Lord, my rock,
who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle,(A)
2 my rock[a] and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield, in whom I take refuge,
who subdues the peoples[b] under me.(B)
3 O Lord, what are humans that you regard them,
or mortals that you think of them?(C)
4 They are like a breath;
their days are like a passing shadow.(D)
5 Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down;
touch the mountains so that they smoke.(E)
6 Make the lightning flash and scatter them;
send out your arrows and rout them.(F)
7 Stretch out your hand from on high;
set me free and rescue me from the mighty waters,
from the hand of foreigners,(G)
8 whose mouths speak lies
and whose right hands are false.(H)
9 I will sing a new song to you, O God;
upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you,(I)
10 the one who gives victory to kings,
who rescues his servant David.(J)
11 Rescue me from the cruel sword,
and deliver me from the hand of aliens,
whose mouths speak lies,
and whose right hands are false.(K)
12 May our sons in their youth
be like plants full grown,
our daughters like corner pillars,
cut for the building of a palace.(L)
13 May our barns be filled
with produce of every kind;
may our sheep increase by thousands,
by tens of thousands in our fields,
14 and may our cattle be heavy with young.
May there be no breach in the walls,[c] no exile,
and no cry of distress in our streets.
15 Happy are the people to whom such blessings fall;
happy are the people whose God is the Lord.(M)
10 Your mother was like a vine in a vineyard[a]
transplanted by the water,
fruitful and full of branches
from abundant water.(A)
11 Its strongest stem became
a ruler’s scepter;[b]
it towered aloft
among the clouds;
it stood out in its height
with its mass of branches.(B)
12 But it was plucked up in fury,
cast down to the ground;
the east wind dried it up;
its fruit was stripped off;
its strong stem was withered;
the fire consumed it.(C)
13 Now it is transplanted into the wilderness,
into a dry and thirsty land.(D)
14 And fire has gone out from its stem,
has consumed its branches and fruit,
so that there remains in it no strong stem,
no scepter for ruling.
This is a lamentation, and it is used as a lamentation.(E)
4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and 5 like living stones let yourselves be built[a] into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.(A) 6 For it stands in scripture:
“See, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”(B)
7 This honor, then, is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,[b]
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the very head of the corner,”(C)
8 and
“A stone that makes them stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.(D)
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people,[c] in order that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.(E)
10 Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.(F)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.