Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 139
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David.
1 O Lord, You have searched me
and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I get up;
You understand my thought from far off.
3 You search my path and my lying down
and are aware of all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
but behold, O Lord, You know it fully.
5 You put Yourself behind and before me,
and keep Your hand on me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is lofty, and I cannot fathom it.
7 Where shall I go from Your spirit,
or where shall I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell at the end of the sea,
10 even there Your hand shall guide me,
and Your right hand shall take hold of me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light shall be as night about me,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to You,
but the night shines as the day,
for the darkness is like light to You.
13 You brought my inner parts into being;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise you, for You made me with fear and wonder;
marvelous are Your works,
and You know me completely.
15 My frame was not hidden from You
when I was made in secret,
and intricately put together in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw me unformed,
yet in Your book
all my days were written,
before any of them came into being.
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them,
they are more in number than the sand;
when I awake,
I am still with You.
Naaman Healed of Leprosy
5 Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man before his master and held favor because by him the Lord had given deliverance to Aram. He was also a mighty warrior, but he had leprosy.
2 The Arameans had gone out raiding and had taken captive a little girl from the land of Israel, and she waited on the wife of Naaman. 3 She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were before the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would take away his leprosy from him.”
4 So Naaman went in and told his lord, “Thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel.” 5 The king of Aram said, “Go, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he went and took with him ten talents[a] of silver, six thousand shekels[b] of gold, and ten sets of clothes. 6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “Now when this letter comes to you, know that I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may take away from him his leprosy.”
7 When the king of Israel had read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to give life, that this man sends a man to me to take away his leprosy? But consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.”
8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent word to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariot and stood at the entrance to the house of Elisha. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be returned and cleansed.”
11 But Naaman became angry and went away and said to himself, “Surely he could have come out, and stood and called on the name of the Lord his God, and waved his hand over the infected area, and taken away the leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.
13 But his servants approached and spoke to him, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more when he said to you, ‘Wash and be clean’?” 14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh returned like the flesh of a little boy, and he was clean.
8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to dejection. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
Judging a Brother
11 Do not speak evil of one another, brothers. He who speaks evil of his brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. If you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. 12 There is one Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?
Warning Against Boasting
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit,” 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? It is just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you are rejoicing in your boastings. All such rejoicing is evil. 17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, it is sin.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.