Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 36

To the Chief Musician. [A Psalm] of David the servant of the Lord.

¹ Transgression [like an oracle] speaks to the wicked deep in his heart. There is no fear or dread of God before his eyes.^(A)

² For he flatters and deceives himself in his own eyes that his iniquity will not be found out and be hated.

³ The words of his mouth are wrong and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and to do good.

⁴ He plans wrongdoing on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not reject or despise evil.

⁵ Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, extend to the skies, and Your faithfulness to the clouds.

⁶ Your righteousness is like the mountains of God, Your judgments are like the great deep. O Lord, You preserve man and beast.

⁷ How precious is Your steadfast love, O God! The children of men take refuge and put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.

⁸ They relish and feast on the abundance of Your house; and You cause them to drink of the stream of Your pleasures.

⁹ For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light do we see light.^(B)

¹⁰ O continue Your loving-kindness to those who know You, Your righteousness (salvation) to the upright in heart.

¹¹ Let not the foot of pride overtake me, and let not the hand of the wicked drive me away.

¹² There the workers of iniquity fall and lie prostrate; they are thrust down and shall not be able to rise.

43 But the hunger and destitution and starvation were very severe and extremely distressing in the land [Canaan].

² And when [the families of Jacob’s sons] had eaten up the grain which the men had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, Go again; buy us a little food.

³ But Judah said to him, The man solemnly and sternly warned us, saying, You shall not see my face again unless your brother is with you.

⁴ If you will send our brother with us, we will go down [to Egypt] and buy you food;

⁵ But if you will not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.

⁶ And Israel said, Why did you do me such a wrong and suffer this evil to come upon me by telling the man that you had another brother?

⁷ And they said, The man asked us straightforward questions about ourselves and our relatives. He said, Is your father still alive? Have you another brother? And we answered him accordingly. How could we know that he would say, Bring your brother down here?

⁸ And Judah said to Israel his father, Send the lad with me and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones.

⁹ I will be security for him; you shall require him of me [personally]; if I do not bring him back to you and put him before you, then let me bear the blame forever.

¹⁰ For if we had not lingered like this, surely by now we would have returned the second time.

¹¹ And their father Israel said to them, If it must be so, now do this; take of the choicest products in the land in your sacks and carry down a present to the man, a little balm (balsam) and a little honey, aromatic spices and gum (of rock rose) or ladanum, pistachio nuts, and almonds.

¹² And take double the [grain] money with you; and the money that was put back in the mouth of your sacks, carry it again with you; there is a possibility that [its being in your sacks] was an oversight.

¹³ Take your brother and arise and return to the man;

¹⁴ May God Almighty give you mercy and favor before the man, that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved [of my sons], I am bereaved.

¹⁵ Then the men took the present, and they took double the [grain] money with them, and Benjamin; and they arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.

6 Now about this time, when the number of the disciples was greatly increasing, complaint was made by the Hellenists (the Greek-speaking Jews) against the [native] Hebrews because their widows were being overlooked and neglected in the daily ministration (distribution of relief).

² So the Twelve [apostles] convened the multitude of the disciples and said, It is not seemly or desirable or right that we should have to give up or neglect [preaching] the Word of God in order to attend to serving at tables and superintending the distribution of food.

³ Therefore select out from among yourselves, brethren, seven men of good and attested character and repute, full of the [Holy] Spirit and wisdom, whom we may assign to look after this business and duty.

⁴ But we will continue to devote ourselves steadfastly to prayer and the ministry of the Word.

⁵ And the suggestion pleased the whole assembly, and they selected Stephen, a man full of faith (a strong and welcome belief that Jesus is the Messiah) and full of and controlled by the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte (convert) from Antioch.

⁶ These they presented to the apostles, who after prayer laid their hands on them.

⁷ And the message of God kept on spreading, and the number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem; and [besides] a large number of the priests were obedient to the faith [in Jesus as the Messiah, through Whom is obtained eternal salvation in the kingdom of God].