Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Yahweh the Shepherd
A psalm of David.[a]
23 Yahweh is my shepherd;
I will not lack for anything.
2 In grassy pastures he makes me lie down;
by quiet waters he leads me.
3 He restores my life.[b]
He leads me in correct paths[c]
for the sake of his name.
4 Even when I walk in a dark valley, I fear no evil
because you are with me.
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare before me a table
in the presence of my oppressors.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup is overflowing.
6 Surely goodness and loyal love will pursue me
all the days of my life,
and I will stay[d] in the house[e] of Yahweh
for a very long time.[f]
10 Hear the word that Yahweh speaks to you, O house of Israel. 2 Thus says Yahweh:
“You must not learn the way of the nations,
and you must not be dismayed by the signs of the heavens,
for the nations are dismayed by them.
3 For the statutes of the peoples are vanity,
for it is a tree cut down from the forest,
the work of the hands of a craftsman with the tool.
4 He decorates it with silver and gold,
they strengthen it with nails and hammers,
so that it does not stagger.
5 They are like scarecrows[a] in a cucumber field,
they cannot speak.
Indeed, they must be carried,
for they cannot march.
You must not be afraid of them,
for they cannot do evil;
furthermore, to do good is not in them.”
6 There is none like you, O Yahweh,
you are great and your name is great in might.
7 Who would not revere you, O king of the nations?
For you it is fitting.
For among all the wise men of the nations,
and in all their kingdoms,[b]
there is none like you.
8 At the same time[c] they are stupid and foolish,
in the instruction of idols, it is wood.
9 Silver beaten from Tarshish is brought,
and gold from Uphaz,
the work of the craftsman and the hands of the goldsmith.
Blue and purple are their clothing,
all of them are the work of skillful people.
10 But Yahweh is the true God,
he is the living God,
and an everlasting king.[d]
Because of his wrath the earth quakes,
and the nations cannot endure his anger.
11 “Thus[e] you shall say to them,
‘Gods who did not make the heavens and the earth
will perish from the earth and from under these heavens.
12 He is the maker of the earth by his power,
who created the world by his wisdom,
and by his understanding he stretched out heaven.
13 When he utters his voice[f] there is a noise of water in the heavens,
and he causes the mist to rise from the ends[g] of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain,
and he causes the wind to go out from his storehouses.
14 Everyone[h] is stupid, without knowledge,[i]
every goldsmith is ashamed by his divine image,
for his cast image is an illusion,
and there is no breath in them.
15 They are vanity, a work of mockery,
at the time of their punishment, they will perish.
16 The portion of Jacob is not like these,
for he is the creator of everything,
and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance,
Yahweh of hosts is his name.
15 who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all[a] creation, 16 because all things in the heavens and on the earth were created by him, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers, all things were created through him and for him, 17 and he himself is before all things, and in him all things are held together, 18 and he himself is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself may become first in everything, 19 because he was well pleased for all the fullness to dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself, by[b] making peace through the blood of his cross, through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
21 And although you were formerly alienated[c][d] and enemies in attitude, because of your evil deeds, 22 but now you have been reconciled[e] by his physical body[f] through death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you remain in the faith, established and steadfast and not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.
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