Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
5 (4) They only want to shake him from his height,
they take delight in lying —
with their mouths they bless,
but inwardly they curse. (Selah)
6 (5) My soul, wait in silence for God alone,
because my hope comes from him.
7 (6) He alone is my rock and salvation,
my stronghold; I won’t be moved.
8 (7) My safety and honor rest on God.
My strong rock and refuge are in God.
9 (8) Trust in him, people, at all times;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us. (Selah)
10 (9) Ordinary folks are merely a breath
and important people a sham;
if you lay them on a balance-scale, they go up —
both together are lighter than nothing.
11 (10) Don’t put your trust in extortion,
don’t put false hopes in robbery;
even if wealth increases,
don’t set your heart on it.
12 (11) God has spoken once, I have heard it twice:
strength belongs to God.
14 A curse on the day I was born!
The day my mother gave birth to me —
let it not be blessed!
15 A curse on the man who brought the news
to my father, “A son has been born to you!” —
thus making him very happy.
16 Let that man be like the cities
Adonai overthrew without mercy!
Let him hear cries of alarm in the morning
and the sound of battle at noon,
17 because God did not put me to death in the womb
and let my mother become my grave,
her womb forever filled with me.
18 Why did I have to emerge from the womb,
just to see toil and sorrow,
and end my days in shame?
13 “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Beit-Tzaidah! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tzor and Tzidon, they would long ago have put on sackcloth and ashes as evidence that they had changed their ways. 14 But at the Judgment it will be more bearable for Tzor and Tzidon than for you!
15 “And you, K’far-Nachum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Sh’ol![a]
16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me, also whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the One who sent me.”
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.