Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
19 But be not thou far off, O Lord, my strength: hasten to help me.
20 Deliver my soul from the sword: my [a]desolate soul from the power of the dog.
21 [b]Save me from the lion’s mouth, and answer me in saving me from the horns of the unicorns.
22 (A)I will declare thy Name unto my brethren: in the midst of the Congregation will I praise thee, saying,
23 [c]Praise the Lord, ye that fear him: magnify ye him, all the seed of Jacob, and fear ye him all the seed of Israel.
24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the [d]poor: neither hath he hid his face from him, but when he called unto him, he heard.
25 My praise shall be of thee in the great Congregation: my [e]vows will I perform before them that fear him.
26 [f]The poor shall eat and be satisfied: they that seek after the Lord, shall praise him: your heart shall live forever.
27 All the ends of the world shall remember themselves and turn to the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
28 For the kingdom is the Lord’s, and he ruleth among the nations.
57 1 God taketh away the good, that he should not see the horrible plagues to come. 3 Of the wicked idolaters, 9 and their vain confidence.
1 The righteous perisheth, and no man considereth it in heart, and merciful men are taken away, and no man understandeth that the righteous is taken away [a]from the evil to come.
2 [b]Peace shall come: they shall rest in their beds, everyone that walketh before him.
3 But you [c]witches’ children, come hither, the seed of the adulterer and of the whore.
4 On whom have ye jested? upon whom have ye gaped and thrust out your tongue? are not ye rebellious children, and a false seed?
5 Inflamed with idols under every green tree? and sacrificing the [d]children in the valleys under the tops of the rocks?
6 Thy portion is in the smooth stones [e]of the river: they, they are thy lot: even to them hast thou poured a drink offering: thou hast offered a sacrifice. Should I delight in [f]these?
7 Thou hast made thy [g]bed upon a very high mountain: thou wentest up thither, even thither wentest thou to offer sacrifice.
8 Behind the [h]doors also and posts hast thou set up thy remembrance: for thou hast discovered thyself to another, than me, and wentest up, and didst [i]enlarge thy bed, and make a covenant between thee and them, and lovedst their bed in every place where thou sawest it.
9 Thou wentest [j]to the kings with oil, and didst increase thine ointments, and send thy messengers far off, and didst humble thyself unto hell.
10 Thou weariedst thyself in thy manifold journeys, yet saidest thou not, [k]There is no hope: thou [l]hast found life by thine hand, therefore thou wast not grieved.
11 And whom didst thou reverence or fear, seeing thou hast [m]lied unto me, and hast not remembered me, neither set thy mind thereon? is it not because I hold my peace, and that of long [n]time? therefore thou fearest not me.
12 I will declare thy righteousness [o]and thy works, and they shall not profit thee.
13 When thou cryest, let them that thou hast gathered together, deliver thee: but the wind [p]shall take them all away: vanity shall pull them away: but he that trusteth in me shall inherit the land, and shall possess mine holy Mountain.
15 [a]Brethren, I speak as [b]men do: (A)though it be but a man’s covenant, when it is [c]confirmed, yet no man doth abrogate it, or addeth anything thereto,
16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to the seeds, as speaking of many: but, And to thy seed, as of one, [d]which is [e]Christ.
17 [f]And this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed afore of God [g]in respect of Christ, the [h]Law which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.
18 [i]For if the [j]inheritance be of the Law, it is no more by the promise, but God gave it freely unto Abraham by promise.
19 [k]Wherefore then serveth the Law? It was added because of the [l]transgressions, [m]till the seed came, unto the which the promise was made: [n]and it was [o]ordained by [p]Angels in the hand of a Mediator.
20 Now a Mediator is not a Mediator of one: [q]but God is one.
21 [r]Is the Law then against the promises of God? God forbid: For if there had been a Law given which could have given life, surely righteousness should have been by the Law.
22 But the [s]Scripture hath (B)concluded [t]all under sin, that the [u]promise by the faith of Jesus Christ should be given to them that believe.
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