Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 68

To the chief Musician, A Psalm or Song of David.

¹ Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.

² As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

³ But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.

⁴ Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name Jah, and rejoice before him.

⁵ A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.

⁶ God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

⁷ O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness; Selah:

⁸ The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel.

⁹ Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary.

¹⁰ Thy congregation hath dwelt therein: thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor.

¹⁹ Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.

²⁰ He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death.

²⁹ ¶ Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over unto the children of Ammon.

³⁰ And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,

³¹ Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord’S, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.

³² ¶ So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the Lord delivered them into his hands.

³³ And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

³⁴ ¶ And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.

³⁵ And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back.

³⁶ And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon.

³⁷ And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows.

³⁸ And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.

³⁹ And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel,

⁴⁰ That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.

¹¹ But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.

¹² For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.

¹³ And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.

¹⁴ But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?