Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
52 Written by David to protest against his enemy Doeg (1 Samuel 22), who later slaughtered eighty-five priests and their families.
You call yourself a hero, do you? You boast about this evil deed of yours against God’s people. 2 You are sharp as a tack in plotting your evil tricks. 3 How you love wickedness—far more than good! And lying more than truth! 4 You love to slander—you love to say anything that will do harm, O man with the lying tongue.
5 But God will strike you down, pull you from your home, and drag you away from the land of the living. 6 The followers of God will see it happen. They will watch in awe. Then they will laugh and say, 7 “See what happens to those who despise God and trust in their wealth, and become ever more bold in their wickedness.”[a]
8 But I am like a sheltered olive tree protected by the Lord himself. I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever. 9 O Lord, I will praise you forever and ever for your punishment.[b] And I will wait for your mercies—for everyone knows what a merciful God you are.
12 “But though men can do all these things, they don’t know where to find wisdom and understanding. 13 They not only don’t know how to get it, but, in fact, it is not to be found among the living.
14 “‘It’s not here,’ the oceans say; and the seas reply, ‘Nor is it here.’
15 “It cannot be bought for gold or silver, 16 nor for all the gold of Ophir or precious onyx stones or sapphires. 17 Wisdom is far more valuable than gold and glass. It cannot be bought for jewels mounted in fine gold. 18 Coral or crystal is worthless in trying to get it; its price is far above rubies. 19 Topaz from Ethiopia cannot purchase it, nor even the purest gold.
20 “Then where can we get it? Where can it be found? 21 For it is hid from the eyes of all mankind; even the sharp-eyed birds in the sky cannot discover it.
22 “But Destruction and Death speak of knowing something about it! 23-24 And God surely knows where it is to be found, for he looks throughout the whole earth, under all the heavens. 25 He makes the winds blow and sets the boundaries of the oceans. 26 He makes the laws of the rain and a path for the lightning. 27 He knows where wisdom is and declares it to all who will listen. He established it and examined it thoroughly. 28 And this is what he says to all mankind: ‘Look, to fear the Lord is true wisdom; to forsake evil is real understanding.’”
13 “Heaven can be entered only through the narrow gate! The highway to hell[a] is broad, and its gate is wide enough for all the multitudes who choose its easy way. 14 But the Gateway to Life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it.
15 “Beware of false teachers who come disguised as harmless sheep, but are wolves and will tear you apart. 16 You can detect them by the way they act, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit. You need never confuse grapevines with thorn bushes or figs with thistles. 17 Different kinds of fruit trees can quickly be identified by examining their fruit. 18 A variety that produces delicious fruit never produces an inedible kind. And a tree producing an inedible kind can’t produce what is good. 19 So the trees having the inedible fruit are chopped down and thrown on the fire. 20 Yes, the way to identify a tree or a person[b] is by the kind of fruit produced.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.