Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The Happiness of Those Whose Help Is the Lord
146 Praise[a] the Lord!
(A)Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2 (B)While I live I will praise the Lord;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
3 (C)Do not put your trust in princes,
Nor in [b]a son of man, in whom there is no [c]help.
4 (D)His spirit departs, he returns to his earth;
In that very day (E)his plans perish.
5 (F)Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,
Whose hope is in the Lord his God,
6 (G)Who made heaven and earth,
The sea, and all that is in them;
Who keeps truth forever,
7 (H)Who executes justice for the oppressed,
(I)Who gives food to the hungry.
(J)The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners.
8 (K)The Lord opens the eyes of the blind;
(L)The Lord raises those who are bowed down;
The Lord loves the righteous.
9 (M)The Lord watches over the strangers;
He relieves the fatherless and widow;
(N)But the way of the wicked He [d]turns upside down.
10 (O)The Lord shall reign forever—
Your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the Lord!
A Reign of Righteousness
32 Behold, (A)a king will reign in righteousness,
And princes will rule with justice.
2 A man will be as a hiding place from the wind,
And (B)a [a]cover from the tempest,
As rivers of water in a dry place,
As the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
3 (C)The eyes of those who see will not be dim,
And the ears of those who hear will listen.
4 Also the heart of the [b]rash will (D)understand knowledge,
And the tongue of the stammerers will be ready to speak plainly.
5 The foolish person will no longer be called [c]generous,
Nor the miser said to be bountiful;
6 For the foolish person will speak foolishness,
And his heart will work (E)iniquity:
To practice ungodliness,
To utter error against the Lord,
To keep the hungry unsatisfied,
And he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
7 Also the schemes of the schemer are evil;
He devises wicked plans
To destroy the poor with (F)lying words,
Even when the needy speaks justice.
8 But a [d]generous man devises generous things,
And by generosity he shall stand.
12 For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law 13 (for (A)not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; 14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the (B)work of the law written in their hearts, their (C)conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) 16 (D)in the day when God will judge the secrets of men (E)by Jesus Christ, (F)according to my gospel.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.