Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁸ Then the Lord told me all about their plans and showed me their evil plots. ¹⁹ I had been as unsuspecting as a lamb or ox on the way to slaughter. I didn’t know that they were planning to kill me! “Let’s destroy this man and all his messages,” they said. “Let’s kill him so that his name will be forever forgotten.”

²⁰ O Lord Almighty, you are just. See the hearts and motives of these men. Repay them for all that they have planned! I look to you for justice.

54 Written by David at the time the men of Ziph tried to betray him to Saul.

Come with great power,^[a] O God, and save me! Defend me with your might! ² Oh, listen to my prayer. ³ For violent men have risen against me—ruthless men who care nothing for God are seeking my life.

⁴ But God is my helper. He is a friend of mine!^{[b] 5} He will cause the evil deeds of my enemies to boomerang upon them. Do as you promised and put an end to these wicked men, O God. ⁶ Gladly I bring my sacrifices to you; I will praise your name, O Lord, for it is good.

⁷ God has rescued me from all my trouble, and triumphed over my enemies.

¹³ If you are wise, live a life of steady goodness so that only good deeds will pour forth. And if you don’t brag about them, then you will be truly wise! ¹⁴ And by all means don’t brag about being wise and good if you are bitter and jealous and selfish; that is the worst sort of lie. ¹⁵ For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, inspired by the devil. ¹⁶ For wherever there is jealousy or selfish ambition, there will be disorder and every other kind of evil.

¹⁷ But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure and full of quiet gentleness. Then it is peace-loving and courteous. It allows discussion and is willing to yield to others; it is full of mercy and good deeds. It is wholehearted and straightforward and sincere. ¹⁸ And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of goodness.

4 What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Isn’t it because there is a whole army of evil desires within you? ² You want what you don’t have, so you kill to get it. You long for what others have, and can’t afford it, so you start a fight to take it away from them. And yet the reason you don’t have what you want is that you don’t ask God for it. ³ And even when you do ask you don’t get it because your whole aim is wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.

⁷ So give yourselves humbly to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. ⁸ And when you draw close to God, God will draw close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and let your hearts be filled with God alone to make them pure and true to him.

^30-31 Leaving that region they traveled through Galilee where he tried to avoid all publicity in order to spend more time with his disciples, teaching them. He would say to them, “I, the Messiah, am going to be betrayed and killed and three days later I will return to life again.”

³² But they didn’t understand and were afraid to ask him what he meant.

³³ And so they arrived at Capernaum. When they were settled in the house where they were to stay, he asked them, “What were you discussing out on the road?”

³⁴ But they were ashamed to answer, for they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest!

³⁵ He sat down and called them around him and said, “Anyone wanting to be the greatest must be the least—the servant of all!”

³⁶ Then he placed a little child among them; and taking the child in his arms he said to them, ³⁷ “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this in my name is welcoming me, and anyone who welcomes me is welcoming my Father who sent me!”