Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

144 Blessed be the Lord, my ^(A)rock,
    ^(B)who trains my hands for war,
    and my fingers for battle;
² he is my ^(C)steadfast love and my ^(D)fortress,
    my ^(E)stronghold and my deliverer,
my ^(F)shield and he in whom I take refuge,
    who ^(G)subdues peoples^[a] under me.
³ O Lord, ^(H)what is man that you ^(I)regard him,
    or the son of man that you think of him?
^4 (J)Man is like a breath;
    his days are like ^(K)a passing ^(L)shadow.
^5 (M)Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down!
    ^(N)Touch the mountains so that they smoke!
^6 (O)Flash forth the lightning and scatter them;
    ^(P)send out your arrows and rout them!
^7 (Q)Stretch out your hand from on high;
    ^(R)rescue me and deliver me from the many waters,
    from the hand ^(S)of foreigners,
⁸ whose mouths speak ^(T)lies
    and whose right hand is ^(U)a right hand of falsehood.
⁹ I will sing ^(V)a new song to you, O God;
    upon ^(W)a ten-stringed harp I will play to you,
¹⁰ who gives victory to kings,
    who ^(X)rescues David his servant from the cruel sword.
¹¹ Rescue me and deliver me
    from the hand ^(Y)of foreigners,
whose mouths speak ^(Z)lies
    and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
¹² May our sons in their youth
    be like ^(AA)plants full grown,
our daughters like ^(AB)corner pillars
    cut for the structure of a palace;
^13 (AC)may our granaries be full,
    ^(AD)providing all kinds of produce;
may our sheep bring forth thousands
    and ten thousands in our fields;
¹⁴ may our cattle be heavy with young,
    suffering no mishap or failure in bearing;^[b]
may there be no ^(AE)cry of distress in our streets!
^15 (AF)Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall!
    ^(AG)Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord!

¹⁰ Your mother was ^(A)like a vine in a vineyard^[a]
    planted by the water,
^(B)fruitful and full of branches
    ^(C)by reason of abundant water.
¹¹ Its strong stems became
    rulers' sceptres;
it towered aloft
    among the thick boughs;^[b]
it was seen in its height
    with the mass of its branches.
¹² But the vine was plucked up in fury,
    cast down to the ground;
^(D)the east wind dried up its fruit;
    they were stripped off and withered.
As for its strong stem,
    fire consumed it.
^13 (E)Now it is planted in the wilderness,
    in a dry and thirsty land.
^14 (F)And fire has gone out from the stem of its shoots,
    has consumed its fruit,
^(G)so that there remains in it no strong stem,
    no sceptre for ruling.

^(G)“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
    a cornerstone chosen and precious,
^(H)and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

^(K)“The stone that the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone”,^[a]

^(L)“A stone of stumbling,
    and a rock of offence.”