Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
ט TETH
65 You have dealt well with Your servant,
O Lord, according to Your word.
66 Teach me good judgment and (A)knowledge,
For I believe Your commandments.
67 Before I was (B)afflicted I went astray,
But now I keep Your word.
68 You are (C)good, and do good;
Teach me Your statutes.
69 The proud have (D)forged[a] a lie against me,
But I will keep Your precepts with my whole heart.
70 (E)Their heart is [b]as fat as grease,
But I delight in Your law.
71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted,
That I may learn Your statutes.
72 (F)The law of Your mouth is better to me
Than thousands of coins of gold and silver.
Healing for the Backslider
14 And one shall say,
(A)“Heap it up! Heap it up!
Prepare the way,
Take the stumbling block out of the way of My people.”
15 For thus says the High and Lofty One
Who inhabits eternity, (B)whose name is Holy:
(C)“I dwell in the high and holy place,
(D)With him who has a contrite and humble spirit,
(E)To revive the spirit of the humble,
And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
16 (F)For I will not contend forever,
Nor will I always be angry;
For the spirit would fail before Me,
And the souls (G)which I have made.
17 For the iniquity of (H)his covetousness
I was angry and struck him;
(I)I hid and was angry,
(J)And he went on [a]backsliding in the way of his heart.
18 I have seen his ways, and (K)will heal him;
I will also lead him,
And restore comforts to him
And to (L)his mourners.
19 “I create (M)the fruit of the lips:
Peace, peace (N)to him who is far off and to him who is near,”
Says the Lord,
“And I will heal him.”
20 (O)But the wicked are like the troubled sea,
When it cannot rest,
Whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
21 “There(P) is no peace,”
Says my God, “for the wicked.”
The Parable of the Great Supper(A)
15 Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, (B)“Blessed is he who shall eat [a]bread in the kingdom of God!”
16 (C)Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, 17 and (D)sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ 18 But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ 20 Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the [b]maimed and the lame and the blind.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’ 23 Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say to you (E)that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ ”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.