Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁹ How shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed and keeping watch [on himself] according to Your word [conforming his life to it].

¹⁰ With my whole heart have I sought You, inquiring for and of You and yearning for You; Oh, let me not wander or step aside [either in ignorance or willfully] from Your commandments.^(A)

¹¹ Your word have I laid up in my heart, that I might not sin against You.

¹² Blessed are You, O Lord; teach me Your statutes.

¹³ With my lips have I declared and recounted all the ordinances of Your mouth.

¹⁴ I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies as much as in all riches.

¹⁵ I will meditate on Your precepts and have respect to Your ways [the paths of life marked out by Your law].^(B)

¹⁶ I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.

2 My son, if you will receive my words and treasure up my commandments within you,

² Making your ear attentive to skillful and godly ^[a]Wisdom and inclining and directing your heart and mind to understanding [applying all your powers to the quest for it];

³ Yes, if you cry out for insight and raise your voice for understanding,

⁴ If you seek [Wisdom] as for silver and search for skillful and godly Wisdom as for hidden treasures,

⁵ Then you will understand the reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of [our omniscient] God.^(A)

⁶ For the Lord gives skillful and godly Wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

⁷ He hides away sound and godly Wisdom and stores it for the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with Him); He is a shield to those who walk uprightly and in integrity,

⁸ That He may guard the paths of justice; yes, He preserves the way of His saints.^(B)

⁹ Then you will understand righteousness, justice, and fair dealing [in every area and relation]; yes, you will understand every good path.

¹⁰ For skillful and godly Wisdom shall enter into your heart, and knowledge shall be pleasant to you.

¹¹ Discretion shall watch over you, understanding shall keep you,

¹² To deliver you from the way of evil and the evil men, from men who speak perverse things and are liars,

¹³ Men who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness,

¹⁴ Who rejoice to do evil and delight in the perverseness of evil,

¹⁵ Who are crooked in their ways, wayward and devious in their paths.

19 Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, He left Galilee and went into the part of Judea that is beyond the Jordan;

² And great throngs accompanied Him, and He cured them there.

³ And Pharisees came to Him and put Him to the test by asking, Is it lawful and right to dismiss and repudiate and divorce one’s wife for any and ^[a]every cause?

⁴ He replied, Have you never read that He Who made them from the beginning made them male and female,

⁵ And said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be united firmly (joined inseparably) to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?^(A)

⁶ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder (separate).

⁷ They said to Him, Why then did Moses command [us] to give a certificate of divorce and thus to dismiss and repudiate a wife?^(B)

⁸ He said to them, Because of the hardness (stubbornness and perversity) of your hearts Moses permitted you to dismiss and repudiate and divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been ^[b]so [ordained].

⁹ I say to you: whoever dismisses (repudiates, divorces) his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits adultery, ^[c]and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

¹⁰ The disciples said to Him, If the case of a man with his wife is like this, it is neither profitable nor advisable to marry.

¹¹ But He said to them, Not all men can accept this saying, but it is for those to whom [the capacity to receive] it has been given.

¹² For there are eunuchs who have been born incapable of marriage; and there are eunuchs who have been made so by men; and there are eunuchs who have made themselves incapable of marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let him who is able to accept this accept it.