Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 64

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

¹ Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; guard and preserve my life from the terror of the enemy.

² Hide me from the secret counsel and conspiracy of the ungodly, from the scheming of evildoers,

³ Who whet their tongues like a sword, who aim venomous words like arrows,

⁴ Who shoot from ambush at the blameless man; suddenly do they shoot at him, without self-reproach or fear.

⁵ They encourage themselves in an evil purpose, they talk of laying snares secretly; they say, Who will discover us?

⁶ They think out acts of injustice and say, We have accomplished a well-devised thing! For the inward thought of each one [is unsearchable] and his heart is deep.

⁷ But God will shoot an unexpected arrow at them; and suddenly shall they be wounded.

⁸ And they will be made to stumble, their own tongues turning against them; all who gaze upon them will shake their heads and flee away.

⁹ And all men shall [reverently] fear and be in awe; and they will declare the work of God, for they will wisely consider and acknowledge that it is His doing.

¹⁰ The [uncompromisingly] righteous shall be glad in the Lord and shall trust and take refuge in Him; and all the upright in heart shall glory and offer praise.

19 Then Job answered:

² How long will you vex and torment me and break me in pieces with words?

³ These ten times you have reproached me; you are not ashamed that you make yourselves strange [harden yourselves against me and deal severely with me].

⁴ And if it were true that I have erred, my error would remain with me [I would be conscious of it].

⁵ If indeed you magnify yourselves against me and plead against me my reproach and humiliation,

⁶ Know that God has overthrown and put me in the wrong and has closed His net about me.

⁷ Behold, I cry out, Violence! but I am not heard; I cry aloud for help, but there is no justice.

⁸ He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, and He has set darkness upon my paths.

⁹ He has stripped me of my glory and taken the crown from my head.

¹⁰ He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone; my hope has He pulled up like a tree.

¹¹ He has also kindled His wrath against me, and He counts me as one of His adversaries.

¹² His troops come together and cast up their way and siege works against me and encamp round about my tent.

¹³ He has put my brethren far from me, and my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.

¹⁴ My kinsfolk have failed me, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.

¹⁵ Those who live temporarily in my house and my maids count me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight.

¹⁶ I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer, though I beseech him with words.

¹⁷ I am repulsive to my wife and loathsome to the children of my own mother.

¹⁸ Even young children despise me; when I get up, they speak against me.

¹⁹ All the men of my council and my familiar friends abhor me; those whom I loved are turned against me.

²⁰ My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped with the skin or gums of my teeth.

²¹ Have pity on me! Have pity on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me!

²² Why do you, as if you were God, pursue and persecute me? [Acting like wild beasts] why are you not satisfied with my flesh?

¹¹ Therefore, remember that at one time you were Gentiles (heathens) in the flesh, called Uncircumcision by those who called themselves Circumcision, [itself a ^[a]mere mark] in the flesh made by human hands.

¹² [Remember] that you were at that time separated (living apart) from Christ [excluded from all part in Him], utterly estranged and outlawed from the rights of Israel as a nation, and strangers with no share in the sacred compacts of the [Messianic] promise [with no knowledge of or right in God’s agreements, His covenants]. And you had no hope (no promise); you were in the world without God.

¹³ But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were [so] far away, through (by, in) the blood of Christ have been brought near.

¹⁴ For He is [Himself] our peace (our bond of unity and harmony). He has made us both [Jew and Gentile] one [body], and has broken down (destroyed, abolished) the hostile dividing wall between us,

¹⁵ By abolishing in His [own crucified] flesh the enmity [caused by] the Law with its decrees and ordinances [which He annulled]; that He from the two might create in Himself one new man [one new quality of humanity out of the two], so making peace.

¹⁶ And [He designed] to reconcile to God both [Jew and Gentile, united] in a single body by means of His cross, thereby killing the mutual enmity and bringing the feud to an end.

¹⁷ And He came and preached the glad tidings of peace to you who were afar off and [peace] to those who were near.^(A)

¹⁸ For it is through Him that we both [whether far off or near] now have an introduction (access) by one [Holy] Spirit to the Father [so that we are able to approach Him].

¹⁹ Therefore you are no longer outsiders (exiles, migrants, and aliens, excluded from the rights of citizens), but you now share citizenship with the saints (God’s own people, consecrated and set apart for Himself); and you belong to God’s [own] household.

²⁰ You are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus Himself the chief Cornerstone.

²¹ In Him the whole structure is joined (bound, welded) together harmoniously, and it continues to rise (grow, increase) into a holy temple in the Lord [a sanctuary dedicated, consecrated, and sacred to the presence of the Lord].

²² In Him [and in fellowship with one another] you yourselves also are being built up [into this structure] with the rest, to form a fixed abode (dwelling place) of God in (by, through) the Spirit.