Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁹ But thou, Jehovah, be not far [from me]; O my strength, haste thee to help me.

²⁰ Deliver my soul from the sword; my only one from the power of the dog;

²¹ Save me from the lion's mouth. Yea, from the horns of the buffaloes hast thou answered me.

²² I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.

²³ Ye that fear Jehovah, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and revere him, all ye the seed of Israel.

²⁴ For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him: but when he cried unto him, he heard.

²⁵ My praise is from thee, in the great congregation; I will pay my vows before them that fear him.

²⁶ The meek shall eat and be satisfied; they shall praise Jehovah that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.

²⁷ All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto Jehovah, and all the families of the nations shall worship before thee:

²⁸ For the kingdom is Jehovah's, and he ruleth among the nations.

57 The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from before the evil.

² He entereth into peace: they rest in their beds, [each one] that hath walked in his uprightness.

³ But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the harlot.

⁴ Against whom do ye sport yourselves? Against whom do ye make a wide mouth, [and] draw out the tongue? Are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood,

⁵ inflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clefts of the rocks?

⁶ Among the smooth [stones] of the torrent is thy portion; they, they are thy lot: even to them hast thou poured out a drink-offering, thou hast offered an oblation. Shall I be comforted myself as to these things?

⁷ Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed: even thither didst thou go up to offer sacrifice.

⁸ Behind the doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance: for apart from me, thou hast uncovered thyself, and art gone up; thou hast enlarged thy bed, and hast made agreement with them; thou lovedst their bed, thou sawest their nakedness.

⁹ And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst multiply thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers afar off, and didst debase thyself unto Sheol.

¹⁰ Thou wast wearied by the multitude of thy ways; [but] thou saidst not, It is of no avail. Thou didst find a quickening of thy strength; therefore thou wast not sick [of it].

¹¹ And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared, that thou hast lied, and hast not remembered me, nor taken it to heart? Have not I even of long time held my peace, and thou fearest me not?

¹² I will declare thy righteousness, and thy works; and they shall not profit thee.

¹³ When thou criest, let them that are gathered by thee deliver thee! But a wind shall carry them all away, a breath shall take them; but he that putteth his trust in me shall inherit the land, and possess my holy mountain.

¹⁵ Brethren, (I speak according to man,) even man's confirmed covenant no one sets aside, or adds other dispositions to.

¹⁶ But to Abraham were the promises addressed, and to his seed: he does not say, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed; which is Christ.

¹⁷ Now I say this, A covenant confirmed beforehand by God, the law, which took place four hundred and thirty years after, does not annul, so as to make the promise of no effect.

¹⁸ For if the inheritance [be] on the principle of law, [it is] no longer on the principle of promise; but God gave it in grace to Abraham by promise.

¹⁹ Why then the law? It was added for the sake of transgressions, until the seed came to whom the promise was made, ordained through angels in [the] hand of a mediator.

²⁰ But a mediator is not of one, but God is one.

²¹ [Is] then the law against the promises of God? Far be the thought. For if a law had been given able to quicken, then indeed righteousness were on the principle of law;

²² but the scripture has shut up all things under sin, that the promise, on the principle of faith of Jesus Christ, should be given to those that believe.