Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁹ But be not far from me, O Lord; O my Help, hasten to aid me!

²⁰ Deliver my life from the sword, my dear life [my only one] from the power of the dog [the agent of execution].

²¹ Save me from the lion’s mouth; for You have answered me [kindly] from the horns of the wild oxen.

²² I will declare Your name to my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise You.^(A)

²³ You who fear (revere and worship) the Lord, praise Him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify Him. Fear (revere and worship) Him, all you offspring of Israel.

²⁴ For He has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither has He hidden His face from him, but when he cried to Him, He heard.

²⁵ My praise shall be of You in the great congregation. I will pay to Him my vows [made in the time of trouble] before them who fear (revere and worship) Him.

²⁶ The poor and afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; they shall praise the Lord—they who [diligently] seek for, inquire of and for Him, and require Him [as their greatest need]. May your hearts be quickened now and forever!

²⁷ All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall bow down and worship before You,

²⁸ For the kingship and the kingdom are the Lord’s, and He is the ruler over the nations.

⁹ All you beasts of the field, come to devour, all you beasts (hostile nations) in the forest.

¹⁰ [Israel’s] watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; dreaming, lying down, they love to slumber.

¹¹ Yes, the dogs are greedy; they never have enough. And such are the shepherds who cannot understand; they have all turned to their own way, each one to his own gain, from every quarter [one and all].

¹² Come, say they, We will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink! And tomorrow shall be as this day, a day great beyond measure.

¹⁷ But if you bear the name of Jew and rely upon the Law and pride yourselves in God and your relationship to Him,

¹⁸ And know and understand His will and discerningly approve the better things and have a sense of what is vital, because you are instructed by the Law;

¹⁹ And if you are confident that you [yourself] are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, and [that

²⁰ You are] a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the childish, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—

²¹ Well then, you who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you teach against stealing, do you steal (take what does not really belong to you)?

²² You who say not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery [are you unchaste in action or in thought]? You who abhor and loathe idols, do you rob temples [do you appropriate to your own use what is consecrated to God, thus robbing the sanctuary and ^[a]doing sacrilege]?

²³ You who boast in the Law, do you dishonor God by breaking the Law [by stealthily infringing upon or carelessly neglecting or openly breaking it]?

²⁴ For, as it is written, The name of God is maligned and blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you! [The words to this effect are from your own Scriptures.]^(A)

²⁵ Circumcision does indeed profit if you keep the Law; but if you habitually transgress the Law, your circumcision is made uncircumcision.

²⁶ So if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be credited to him as [equivalent to] circumcision?

²⁷ Then those who are physically uncircumcised but keep the Law will condemn you who, although you have the code in writing and have circumcision, break the Law.

²⁸ For he is not a [real] Jew who is only one outwardly and publicly, nor is [true] circumcision something external and physical.

²⁹ But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and [true] circumcision is of the heart, a spiritual and not a literal [matter]. His praise is not from men but from God.