Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 131

A Song of ^[a]Ascents. Of David.

¹ Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty; neither do I exercise myself in matters too great or in things too wonderful for me.

² Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me [ceased from fretting].

³ O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever.

31 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses and trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they look not to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek and consult the Lord!

² And yet He is wise and brings calamity and does not retract His words; He will arise against the house (the whole race) of evildoers and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.

³ Now the Egyptians are men and not God, and their horses are flesh and not spirit; and when the Lord stretches out His hand, both [Egypt] who helps will stumble, and [Judah] who is helped will fall, and they will all perish and be consumed together.

⁴ For the Lord has said to me, As the lion or the young lion growls over his prey—and though a large band of shepherds is called out against him, he will not be terrified at their voice or daunted at their noise—so the Lord of hosts will come down to fight upon Mount Zion and upon its hills.

⁵ Like birds hovering, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; He will protect and deliver it, He will pass over and spare and preserve it.

⁶ Return, O children of Israel, to Him against Whom you have so deeply plunged into revolt.

⁷ For in that day every man of you will cast away [in contempt and disgust] his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your own hands have sinfully made for you.

⁸ Then the Assyrian shall fall by a sword not of man; and a sword, not of men [but of God], shall devour him. And he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be subjected to forced labor.

⁹ [In his flight] he shall pass beyond his rock [refuge and stronghold] because of terror; even his officers shall desert the standard in fear and panic, says the Lord, Whose fire is in Zion and Whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

¹⁴ Now Jesus was driving out a demon that was dumb; and it occurred that when the demon had gone out, the dumb man spoke. And the crowds marveled.

¹⁵ But some of them said, He drives out demons [because He is in league with and] by Beelzebub, the prince of demons,

¹⁶ While others, to try and test and tempt Him, demanded a sign of Him from heaven.

¹⁷ But He, [well] aware of their intent and purpose, said to them, Every kingdom split up against itself is doomed and brought to desolation, and so house falls upon house. [The disunited household will collapse.]

¹⁸ And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom last? For you say that I expel demons with the help of and by Beelzebub.

¹⁹ Now if I expel demons with the help of and by Beelzebub, with whose help and by whom do your sons drive them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.

²⁰ But if I drive out the demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has [already] come upon you.

²¹ When the strong man, fully armed, [^[a]from his courtyard] guards his own dwelling, his belongings are undisturbed [his property is at peace and is secure].

²² But when one stronger than he attacks him and conquers him, he robs him of his whole armor on which he had relied and divides up and distributes all his goods as plunder (spoil).

²³ He who is not with Me [siding and believing with Me] is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me [engage in My interest], scatters.