Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Prayer for National Safety
Of David.[a]
144 Blessed be Yahweh, my rock,
the one who trains my hands for battle,
my fingers for war—
2 my loyal love and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield, and one in whom I take refuge,
the one who subdues peoples[b] under me.
3 O Yahweh, what is humankind that you take knowledge of him,
or the son of man that you take thought of him?
4 Humankind is like a breath,
his days like a passing shadow.
5 O Yahweh, bow the heavens and come down;
touch the mountains so that they smoke.
6 Flash forth lightning and scatter them;
dispatch your arrows and rout them.
7 Stretch out your hands from on high;
Rescue me and deliver me from many waters,
from the hand of foreigners,
8 whose mouth speaks falsely,
and their right hand is a false right hand.
9 O God, I will sing a new song to you.
With a lyre of ten strings I will sing praise to you,
10 who gives victory to kings,
who rescues David his servant
from the evil sword.
11 Rescue me and deliver me
from the hand of foreigners,
whose mouth speaks falsely,
and whose right hand is a false right hand,
12 that our sons may be like plants,
full grown in their youth,
our daughters like corner pillars,
carved in the style of a palace,
13 that our granaries may be full,
providing produce of all kinds,[c]
that our sheep may produce by the thousands,
by the tens of thousands in our open fields,
14 that our cattle may be pregnant;
that there be no breach in our walls,
and no going out in exile,
and no outcry in our plazas.
15 Blessed are the people who have it thus.
Blessed are the people whose God is Yahweh.
Up from the Wilderness and under the Apple Tree
5 Who is this coming up from the wilderness,
leaning upon her beloved?
Under the apple tree I awakened you;
there your mother conceived you;[a]
there she who was in labor gave birth to you.
The Nature of Genuine Romantic Love
6 Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm;
for love is strong as death;
passion is fierce as Sheol;
its flashes are flashes of fire;
it is a blazing flame.
7 Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.[b]
If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love,[c]
he would be utterly scorned.[d]
Maiden’s Virtuous Chastity and Voluptuous Beauty
8 We have a little sister,[e]
and she does not yet have any breasts.[f]
What should we do for our sister
on the day when she is betrothed?[g][h]
9 If she is a wall,
we will adorn her with a turret of silver;[i][j]
but if she is a door,
we will barricade her with boards of cedar.[k]
10 I was a wall, and my breasts were like the towers,
so my betrothed viewed me with great delight.[l]
Solomon’s Vineyard and the Maiden’s Gift
11 Solomon had a vineyard[m] at Baal-hamon;
he entrusted his vineyard to the keepers;[n]
people paid a thousand silver pieces for its fruit.[o]
12 My own “vineyard” belongs to me;[p]
the “thousand” are for you, O Solomon,
and “two hundred” for those who tend its fruit.[q]
Closing Words of Mutual Love
The Jewish Leaders Plot to Kill Jesus
45 Then many of the Jews who had come with Mary and saw the things which he did believed in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees called together the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs! 48 If we allow him to go on in this way, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place[a] and our[b] nation.”
49 But a certain one of them, Caiaphas (who was high priest in that year), said to them, “You do not know anything at all! 50 Nor do you consider that it is profitable for you that one man should die for the people, and the whole nation not perish.” 51 (Now he did not say this from himself, but being high priest in that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also that the children of God who are scattered would be gathered into one.) 53 So from that day they resolved that they should kill him. 54 So Jesus was no longer walking openly among the Jews, but went away from there to the region near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.
55 Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem from the surrounding country before the Passover, so that they could purify themselves. 56 So they were looking for Jesus, and were speaking with one another while[c] standing in the temple courts,[d] “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?” 57 (Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, they should report it,[e] in order that they could arrest him.)
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