Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
4 Say to those who are hasty of heart,
“Be strong; you must not fear!
Look! your God will come with vengeance,
with divine retribution.[a]
He is the one who[b] will come and save you.”
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf shall be opened.
6 Then the lame shall leap like the deer,
and the tongue of the dumb shall sing for joy,
for waters shall break forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert.
7 And the parched ground shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water.
Her resting place is in a settlement of jackals;
the grass shall become like reeds[c] and rushes.[d]
Praise to Yahweh for His Help
146 Praise Yah.[a]
Praise Yahweh, O my soul.
2 I will praise Yahweh while I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I am still alive.
3 Do not place trust in princes,
in a son of humankind with whom there is no deliverance.
4 His breath departs; he returns to his plot;[b]
on that day his plans perish.
5 Blessed is the one whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is on Yahweh as his God,
6 who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them,
the one who keeps faith[c] forever,
7 who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food for the hungry.
Yahweh sets prisoners free;
8 Yahweh opens the eyes of the blind;
Yahweh raises up those bowed down;
Yahweh loves the righteous;
9 Yahweh protects[d] the strangers.
He helps up the orphan and the widow,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.[e]
10 Yahweh will reign forever,
Your God, O Zion, throughout all generations.[f]
Praise Yah.[g]
Partiality Forbidden
2 My brothers, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with partiality. 2 For if someone[a] enters into your assembly[b] in fine clothing with a gold ring on his finger, and a poor person in filthy clothing also enters, 3 and you look favorably on the one wearing the fine clothing and you say, “Be seated here in a good place,” and to the poor person you say, “You stand or be seated there[c] by my footstool,” 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my dear brothers! Did not God choose the poor of the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor! Are not the rich exploiting you and they themselves dragging you into the courts? 7 Do they themselves not blaspheme the good name of the one to whom you belong[d]?
8 However, if you carry out the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,”[e] you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin, and thus[f] are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles in one point only has become guilty of all of it.
11 For the one who said “Do not commit adultery”[a] also said “Do not murder.”[b] Now if you do not commit adultery but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 Thus speak and thus act as those who are going to be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is merciless to the one who has not practiced mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Faith and Works
14 What is the benefit, my brothers, if someone says that he has faith but does not have works? That faith is not able to save him, is it?[a] 15 If a brother or a sister is poorly clothed and lacking food for the day, 16 and one of you should say to them, “Go in peace, keep warm and eat well[b],” but does not give them what is necessary for the body, what is the benefit? 17 Thus also faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.
A Syrophoenician Woman’s Great Faith
24 And from there he set out and[a] went to the region of Tyre. And when he[b] entered into a house, he wanted no one to know, and yet he was not able to escape notice. 25 But immediately a woman whose young daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit, when she[c] heard about him, came and[d] fell down at his feet, 26 Now the woman was a Greek—a Syrophoenician by nationality—and she was asking him that he would expel the demon from her daughter. 27 And he said to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it[e] to the dogs!” 28 But she answered and said to him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 And he said to her, “Because of this statement, go! The demon has gone out of your daughter.” 30 And when she[f] went to her home, she found the child lying on the bed and the demon gone.
A Man Deaf and Unable to Speak Healed
31 And again he went away from the region of Tyre and[g] came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis. 32 And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had difficulty speaking, and they were imploring him that he would place his[h] hand on him. 33 And he took him away from the crowd by himself and[i] put his fingers into his ears, and after[j] spitting, he touched his tongue. 34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”). 35 And[k] his ears were opened and his difficulty in speaking was removed[l] and he began to speak normally. 36 And he ordered them that they should say nothing, but as much as he ordered them not to, they proclaimed it[m] even more instead. 37 And they were amazed beyond all measure, saying, “He has done all things well! He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”
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