Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 30

A Psalm; a Song at the Dedication of the Temple. [A Psalm] of David.

¹ I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me.

² O Lord my God, I cried to You and You have healed me.

³ O Lord, You have brought my life up from Sheol (the place of the dead); You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit (the grave).

⁴ Sing to the Lord, O you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.

⁵ For His anger is but for a moment, but His favor is for a lifetime or in His favor is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.^(A)

⁶ As for me, in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.

⁷ By Your favor, O Lord, You have established me as a strong mountain; You hid Your face, and I was troubled.

⁸ I cried to You, O Lord, and to the Lord I made supplication.

⁹ What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit (the grave)? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your truth and faithfulness to men?

¹⁰ Hear, O Lord, have mercy and be gracious to me! O Lord, be my helper!

¹¹ You have turned my mourning into dancing for me; You have put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,

¹² To the end that my tongue and my heart and everything glorious within me may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

²¹ If the cleansed leper is poor and cannot afford so much, he shall take one lamb for a guilt or trespass offering to be waved to make atonement for him, and one tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering, and a log of oil,

²² And two turtledoves or two young pigeons, such as he can afford, one for a sin offering, the other for a burnt offering.

²³ He shall bring them on the eighth day for his cleansing to the priest at the door of the Tent of Meeting, before the Lord.

²⁴ And the priest shall take the lamb of the guilt or trespass offering, and the log of oil, and shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord.

²⁵ And he shall kill the lamb of the guilt or trespass offering, and the priest shall take some of the blood of the offering and put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot.

²⁶ And the priest shall pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand,

²⁷ And shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the Lord.

²⁸ The priest shall put some of the oil in his hand on the tip of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot, on the places where he has put the blood of the guilt offering.

²⁹ The rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of the one to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before the Lord.

³⁰ And he shall offer one of the turtledoves or of the young pigeons, such as he is able to get,

³¹ As he can afford, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, together with the cereal offering; and the priest shall make atonement for him who is to be cleansed before the Lord.

³² This is the law of him in whom is the plague of leprosy, who is not able to get what is required for his cleansing.

⁶ Now when Jesus came back to Bethany and was in the house of Simon the leper,

⁷ A woman came up to Him with an alabaster flask of very precious perfume, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at table.

⁸ And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, For what purpose is all this waste?

⁹ For this perfume might have been sold for a large sum and the money given to the poor.

¹⁰ But Jesus, fully aware of this, said to them, Why do you bother the woman? She has done a noble (praiseworthy and beautiful) thing to Me.

¹¹ For you always have the poor among you, but you will not always have Me.^(A)

¹² In pouring this perfume on My body she has done something to prepare Me for My burial.

¹³ Truly I tell you, wherever this good news (the Gospel) is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will be told also, in memory of her.