Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 40
For the music leader. Of David. A psalm.
40 I put all my hope in the Lord.
He leaned down to me;
he listened to my cry for help.
2 He lifted me out of the pit of death,
out of the mud and filth,
and set my feet on solid rock.
He steadied my legs.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise for our God.
Many people will learn of this and be amazed;
they will trust the Lord.
4 Those who put their trust in the Lord,
who pay no attention to the proud
or to those who follow lies,
are truly happy!
5 You, Lord my God!
You’ve done so many things—
your wonderful deeds and your plans for us—
no one can compare with you!
If I were to proclaim and talk about all of them,
they would be too numerous to count!
6 You don’t relish sacrifices or offerings;
you don’t require entirely burned offerings or compensation offerings—
but you have given me ears!
7 So I said, “Here I come!
I’m inscribed in the written scroll.
8 I want to do your will, my God.
Your Instruction is deep within me.”
A plea: Return to God
14 [a] Return, Israel, to the Lord your God;
you have stumbled because of your wickedness.
2 Prepare to speak
and return to the Lord;
say to the Lord,
“Forgive all wickedness;
and receive the good.
Instead of bulls,
let us offer what we can say:
3 Assyria won’t save us;
we won’t ride upon horses;
we will no longer say, ‘Our God,’
to the work of our hands.
In you the orphan finds compassion.”
Divine promise of healing
4 I will heal their faithlessness;
I will love them freely,
for my anger has turned from them.
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;
he will blossom like the lily;
he will cast out his roots like the forests of Lebanon.[b]
6 His branches will spread out;
his beauty will be like the olive tree,
and his fragrance like that of Lebanon.
7 They will again live beneath my shadow,
they will flourish like a garden;
they will blossom like the vine,
their fragrance will be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 Ephraim, what do idols have to do with me?
It is I who answer and look after you.
I am like a green cypress tree;
your fruit comes from me.
Be careful
9 Whoever is wise understands these things.
Whoever observes carefully knows them.
Truly, the Lord’s ways are right,
and the righteous will walk in them,
but evildoers will stumble in them.
Working on the Sabbath
12 At that time Jesus went through the wheat fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry so they were picking heads of wheat and eating them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are breaking the Sabbath law.”
3 But he said to them, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and those with him were hungry? 4 He went into God’s house and broke the law by eating the bread of the presence, which only the priests were allowed to eat. 5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple treat the Sabbath as any other day and are still innocent? 6 But I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what this means, I want mercy and not sacrifice,[a] you wouldn’t have condemned the innocent. 8 The Human One[b] is Lord of the Sabbath.”
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible