Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

²⁰ And Jehovah said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grievous,

²¹ I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come to me; and if not, I will know [it].

²² And the men turned thence, and went towards Sodom; and Abraham remained yet standing before Jehovah.

²³ And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also cause the righteous to perish with the wicked?

²⁴ There are perhaps fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not forgive the place for the sake of the fifty righteous that are therein?

²⁵ Far be it from thee to do so, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that the righteous should be as the wicked—far be it from thee! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?

²⁶ And Jehovah said, If I find at Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will forgive all the place for their sakes.

²⁷ And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have ventured to speak unto the Lord; I, who am dust and ashes.

²⁸ Perhaps there may want five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city on account of the five? And he said, If I shall find forty-five there, I will not destroy [it].

²⁹ And he continued yet to speak with him, and said, Perhaps there may be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for the forty's sake.

³⁰ And he said, Oh, let not the Lord be angry that I speak! Perhaps there may be thirty found there. And he said, I will not do it if I find thirty there.

³¹ And he said, Behold now, I have ventured to speak with the Lord. Perhaps there may be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy [it] for the twenty's sake.

³² And he said, Oh, let not the Lord be angry, that I speak yet but this time! Perhaps there may be ten found there. And he said, I will not destroy [it] for the ten's sake.

[A Psalm] of David.

138 I will give thee thanks with my whole heart; before the gods will I sing psalms of thee.

² I will bow down toward the temple of thy holiness, and celebrate thy name for thy loving-kindness and for thy truth; for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.

³ In the day when I called thou answeredst me; thou didst encourage me with strength in my soul.

⁴ All the kings of the earth shall celebrate thee, Jehovah, when they have heard the words of thy mouth;

⁵ And they shall sing in the ways of Jehovah, for great is the glory of Jehovah.

⁶ For Jehovah is high; but he looketh upon the lowly, and the proud he knoweth afar off.

⁷ Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou wilt stretch forth thy hand against the anger of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.

⁸ Jehovah will perfect what concerneth me: thy loving-kindness, O Jehovah, [endureth] for ever; forsake not the works of thine own hands.

⁶ As therefore ye have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in him,

⁷ rooted and built up in him, and assured in the faith, even as ye have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

⁸ See that there be no one who shall lead *you* away as a prey through philosophy and vain deceit, according to the teaching of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ.

⁹ For in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily;

¹⁰ and ye are complete in him, who is the head of all principality and authority,

¹¹ in whom also ye have been circumcised with circumcision not done by hand, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of the Christ;

¹² buried with him in baptism, in which ye have been also raised with [him] through faith of the working of God who raised him from among the dead.

¹³ And you, being dead in offences and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has quickened together with him, having forgiven us all the offences;

¹⁴ having effaced the handwriting in ordinances which [stood out] against us, which was contrary to us, he has taken it also out of the way, having nailed it to the cross;

¹⁵ having spoiled principalities and authorities, he made a show of them publicly, leading them in triumph by it.

¹⁶ Let none therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in matter of feast, or new moon, or sabbaths,

¹⁷ which are a shadow of things to come; but the body [is] of Christ.

¹⁸ Let no one fraudulently deprive you of your prize, doing his own will in humility and worship of angels, entering into things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by the mind of his flesh,

¹⁹ and not holding fast the head, from whom all the body, ministered to and united together by the joints and bands, increases with the increase of God.

11 And it came to pass as he was in a certain place praying, when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, even as John also taught his disciples.

² And he said to them, When ye pray, say, Father, thy name be hallowed; thy kingdom come;

³ give us our needed bread for each day;

⁴ and remit us our sins, for we also remit to every one indebted to us; and lead us not into temptation.

⁵ And he said to them, Who among you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight and say to him, Friend, let me have three loaves,

⁶ since a friend of mine on a journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him;

⁷ and he within answering should say, Do not disturb me; the door is already shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise up to give [it] thee?

⁸ —I say to you, Although he will not get up and give [them] to him because he is his friend, because of his shamelessness, at any rate, he will rise and give him as many as he wants.

⁹ And *I* say to you, Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.

¹⁰ For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it will be opened.

¹¹ But of whom of you that is a father shall a son ask bread, and [the father] shall give him a stone? or also a fish, and instead of a fish shall give him a serpent?

¹² or if also he shall ask an egg, shall give him a scorpion?

¹³ If therefore *ye*, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much rather shall the Father who is of heaven give [the] Holy Spirit to them that ask him?