Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 53

To the Chief Musician; in a mournful strain. A skillful song, or didactic or reflective poem of David.

¹ The [empty-headed] fool has said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt and evil are they, and doing abominable iniquity; there is none who does good.

² God looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any who understood, who sought (inquired after and desperately required) God.

³ Every one of them has gone back [backslidden and fallen away]; they have altogether become filthy and corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one.^(A)

⁴ Have those who work evil no knowledge (no understanding)? They eat up My people as they eat bread; they do not call upon God.

⁵ There they are, in terror and dread, where there was [and had been] no terror and dread! For God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you; you have put them to shame, because God has rejected them.

⁶ Oh, that the salvation and deliverance of Israel would come out of Zion! When God restores the fortunes of His people, then will Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.

25 The Lord said to Moses on Mount Sinai,

² Say to the Israelites, When you come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath to the Lord.

³ For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits.

⁴ But in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord; you shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard.

⁵ What grows of itself in your harvest you shall not reap and the grapes on your uncultivated vine you shall not gather, for it is a year of rest to the land.

⁶ And the sabbath rest of the [untilled] land shall [in its increase] furnish food for you, for your male and female slaves, your hired servant, and the temporary resident who lives with you,

⁷ For your domestic animals also and for the [wild] beasts in your land; all its yield shall be for food.

⁸ And you shall number seven sabbaths or weeks of years for you, seven times seven years, so the total time of the seven weeks of years shall be forty-nine years.

⁹ Then you shall sound abroad the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month [almost October]; on the Day of Atonement blow the trumpet in all your land.

¹⁰ And you shall hallow the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his ancestral possession [which through poverty he was compelled to sell], and each of you shall return to his family [from whom he was separated in bond service].

¹¹ That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it you shall not sow, or reap and store what grows of itself, or gather the grapes of the uncultivated vines.

¹² For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat the [sufficient] increase of it out of the field.

¹³ In this Year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his ancestral property.

¹⁴ And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another.

¹⁵ According to the number of years after the Jubilee, you shall buy from your neighbor. And he shall sell to you according to the number of years [remaining in which you may gather] the crops [before you must restore the property to him].

¹⁶ If the years [to the next Jubilee] are many, you may increase the price, and if the years remaining are few, you shall diminish the price, for the number of the crops is what he is selling to you.

¹⁷ You shall not oppress and wrong one another, but you shall [reverently] fear your God. For I am the Lord your God.

¹⁸ Therefore you shall do and give effect to My statutes and keep My ordinances and perform them, and you will dwell in the land in safety.

¹⁹ The land shall yield its fruit; you shall eat your fill and dwell there in safety.

⁹ Then [the angel] said to me, Write this down: Blessed (happy, ^[a]to be envied) are those who are summoned (invited, called) to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me [further], These are the true words (the genuine and exact declarations) of God.

¹⁰ Then I fell prostrate at his feet to worship (to pay divine honors) to him, but he [restrained me] and said, Refrain! [You must not do that!] I am [only] another servant with you and your brethren who have [accepted and hold] the testimony borne by Jesus. Worship God! For the substance (essence) of the truth revealed by Jesus is the spirit of all prophecy [the vital breath, the inspiration of all inspired preaching and interpretation of the divine will and purpose, including both mine and yours].