Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

An instruction. Of Ethan the Ezrahite.

89 I will sing of the loving-kindness of Jehovah for ever; with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness from generation to generation.

² For I said, Loving-kindness shall be built up for ever; in the very heavens wilt thou establish thy faithfulness.

³ I have made a covenant with mine elect, I have sworn unto David my servant:

⁴ Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne from generation to generation. Selah.

⁵ And the heavens shall celebrate thy wonders, O Jehovah, and thy faithfulness in the congregation of the saints.

⁶ For who in the heaven can be compared to Jehovah? [who] among the sons of the mighty shall be likened to Jehovah?

⁷ God is greatly to be feared in the council of the saints, and terrible for all that are round about him.

⁸ Jehovah, God of hosts, who is like unto thee, the strong Jah? And thy faithfulness is round about thee.

⁹ *Thou* rulest the pride of the sea: when its waves arise, *thou* stillest them.

¹⁰ Thou hast crushed Rahab as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with the arm of thy strength.

¹¹ Thine are the heavens, the earth also is thine; the world and its fulness, *thou* hast founded them.

¹² The north and the south, *thou* hast created them: Tabor and Hermon triumph in thy name.

¹³ Thine is the arm of might: strong is thy hand, high is thy right hand.

¹⁴ Righteousness and judgment are the foundation of thy throne; loving-kindness and truth go before thy face.

¹⁵ Blessed is the people that know the shout of joy: they walk, O Jehovah, in the light of thy countenance.

¹⁶ In thy name are they joyful all the day, and in thy righteousness are they exalted.

¹⁷ For thou art the glory of their strength; and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted.

¹⁸ For Jehovah is our shield, and the Holy One of Israel, our king.

¹⁴ Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will perform the good word which I have spoken unto the house of Israel and unto the house of Judah.

¹⁵ In those days, and at that time, will I cause a Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.

¹⁶ In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell in safety. And this is the name wherewith she shall be called: Jehovah our Righteousness.

¹⁷ For thus saith Jehovah: There shall never fail to David a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel;

¹⁸ neither shall there fail to the priests the Levites a man before me to offer up burnt-offerings, and to burn oblations, and to do sacrifice continually.

¹⁹ And the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, saying,

²⁰ Thus saith Jehovah: If ye can break my covenant [in respect] of the day, and my covenant [in respect] of the night, so that there should not be day and night in their season,

²¹ [then] shall also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites, the priests, my ministers.

²² As the host of the heavens cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.

²³ And the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, saying,

²⁴ Hast thou not seen what this people have spoken, saying, The two families that Jehovah had chosen, he hath even cast them off? And they despise my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.

²⁵ Thus saith Jehovah: If my covenant of day and night [stand] not, if I have not appointed the ordinances of the heavens and the earth,

²⁶ [then] will I also cast away the seed of Jacob, and of David my servant, so as not to take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will turn their captivity, and will have mercy on them.

⁴¹ And Peter said to him, Lord, sayest thou this parable to us, or also to all?

⁴² And the Lord said, Who then is the faithful and prudent steward, whom his lord will set over his household, to give the measure of corn in season?

⁴³ Blessed is that bondman whom his lord [on] coming shall find doing thus;

⁴⁴ verily I say unto you, that he will set him over all that he has.

⁴⁵ But if that bondman should say in his heart, My lord delays to come, and begin to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and to drink and to be drunken,

⁴⁶ the lord of that bondman shall come in a day when he does not expect it, and in an hour he knows not of, and shall cut him in two and appoint his portion with the unbelievers.

⁴⁷ But that bondman who knew his own lord's will, and had not prepared [himself] nor done his will, shall be beaten with many [stripes];

⁴⁸ but he who knew [it] not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few. And to every one to whom much has been given, much shall be required from him; and to whom [men] have committed much, they will ask from him the more.