Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 38
A Psalm of David. To bring remembrance.
1 O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your wrath,
nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure.
2 For Your arrows pierce me,
and Your hand presses down on me.
3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation,
nor is there health in my bones because of my sin.
4 For my iniquities have passed over my head;
as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
5 My wounds grow foul and fester
because of my foolishness.
6 I am bent, I am bowed down greatly;
I go mourning all the day long.
7 For my sides are filled with burning,
and there is no soundness in my flesh.
8 I am numb and completely crushed;
I have roared because of the groaning of my heart.
9 Lord, all my desire is before You,
and my sighing is not hidden from You.
10 My heart throbs, my strength fails me;
as for the light of my eyes, it also is gone from me.
11 My friends and my companions stand back because of my affliction,
and those close to me stand at a distance.
12 The people who seek my life strike at me;
those who seek my harm speak destruction,
and plan treacheries all the day long.
13 But I, like a deaf man, did not hear;
and like a dumb man, did not open my mouth.
14 Thus I was as a man who does not hear,
and in whose mouth are no reproofs.
15 For in You, O Lord, do I hope;
You will answer, O Lord my God.
16 For I said, “Lest otherwise they should rejoice over me.
When my foot slips, they magnify themselves against me.”
17 For I am ready to stumble,
and my pain is continually before me.
18 For I will declare my iniquity;
I am anxious because of my sin.
19 But my enemies are lively, and they are strong;
and those who wrongfully hate me are many.
20 Those also who repay evil for good are my adversaries,
because I pursue good.
21 Do not abandon me, O Lord;
O my God, do not be far from me.
22 Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation.
Jacob Meets Esau
33 Then Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two female servants. 2 He put the female servants and their children in front, then Leah and her children next, and then Rachel and Joseph last. 3 He went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.
4 But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. 5 When Esau looked up and saw the women and the children, he said, “Who are those with you?”
Jacob said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.”
6 Then the female servants came near, they and their children, and they bowed down. 7 Leah also with her children came near and bowed themselves. Afterward Joseph and Rachel came near, and they bowed themselves.
8 Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company that I met?”
Jacob answered, “These are to find favor in the sight of my lord.”
9 Esau said, “I have enough, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself.”
10 Jacob said, “No, I pray you, if I have now found favor in your sight, then receive my gift from my hand. For I have seen your face, and it is as though I have seen the face of God, with you having received me favorably. 11 Please take my blessing that has been brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have plenty.” So he urged him, and he took it.
12 Then Esau said, “Let us journey on our way, and I will go ahead of you.”
13 But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are weak, and the flocks and herds with young are with me. If they are driven too hard one day, all the flock will die. 14 Please let my lord pass over before his servant, and I will lead on slowly, according to the pace of the livestock that goes before me and the pace the children will be able to endure, until I come to my lord at Seir.”
15 So Esau said, “Let me leave some of the people that are with me with you.”
But Jacob said, “What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.”
16 So Esau returned that day making his way back to Seir. 17 But Jacob journeyed to Sukkoth and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Sukkoth.
Covering the Head in Worship
2 I praise you, brothers, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions as I delivered them to you. 3 But I would have you know that the head of the woman is the man, the head of every man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God. 4 Every man praying or prophesying having his head covered dishonors his head, 5 but every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is the same as if she were shaved. 6 For if the woman is not covered, let her also cut off her hair. But if it is a shame for a woman to have her hair cut off or shaved, let her be covered.
7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, because he is the image and glory of God. But the woman is the glory of the man. 8 The man is not from the woman, but the woman from the man. 9 The man was not created for the woman, but the woman for the man. 10 For this reason the woman ought to have a veil of authority over her head, because of the angels. 11 Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, nor the woman without the man in the Lord. 12 For just as the woman came from the man, so the man comes through the woman, but all things come from God.
13 Judge for yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God uncovered? 14 Does even nature itself not teach you that if a man has long hair it is a shame to him? 15 But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a covering. 16 But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor have the churches of God.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.