Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
16 The prayer of David. Hear, O Lord, my justice: attend to my supplication. Give ear unto my prayer, which proceedeth not from deceitful lips.
2 Let my judgment come forth from thy countenance: let thy eyes behold the things that are equitable.
3 Thou hast proved my heart, and visited it by night, thou hast tried me by fire: and iniquity hath not been found in me.
4 That my mouth may not speak the works of men: for the sake of the words of thy lips, I have kept hard ways.
5 Perfect thou my goings in thy paths: that my footsteps be not moved.
6 I have cried to thee, for thou, O God, hast heard me: O incline thy ear unto me, and hear my words.
7 shew forth thy wonderful mercies; thou who savest them that trust in thee.
8 From them that resist thy right hand keep me, as the apple of thy eye. Protect me under the shadow of thy wings.
9 From the face of the wicked who have afflicted me. My enemies have surrounded my soul:
10 They have shut up their fat: their mouth hath spoken proudly.
11 They have cast me forth and now they have surrounded me: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth.
12 They have taken me, as a lion prepared for the prey; and as a young lion dwelling in secret places.
13 Arise, O Lord, disappoint him and supplant him; deliver my soul from the wicked one: thy sword
14 From the enemies of thy hand. O Lord, divide them from the few of the earth in their life: their belly is filled from thy hidden stores. They are full of children: and they have left to their little ones the rest of their substance.
15 But as for me, I will appear before thy sight in justice: I shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appear.
1 And Moab rebelled against Israel, after the death of Achab.
2 And Ochozias fell through the lattices of his upper chamber which he had in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, saying to them: Go, consult Beelzebub, the god of Accaron, whether I shall recover of this my illness.
3 And an angel of the Lord spoke to Elias the Thesbite, saying: Arise, and go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them: Is there not a God in Israel, that ye go to consult Beelzebub the god of Accaron?
4 Wherefore thus saith the Lord: From the bed, on which thou art gone up, thou shalt not come down, but thou shalt surely die. And Elias went away.
5 And the messengers turned back to Ochozias. And he said to them: Why are you come back?
6 But they answered him: A man met us, and said to us: Go, and return to the king, that sent you, and you shall say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Is it because there was no God in Israel that thou sendest to Beelzebub the god of Accaron? Therefore thou shalt not come down from the bed, on which thou art gone up, but then shalt surely die.
7 And he said to them: What manner of man was he who met you, and spoke these words?
8 But they said: A hairy man with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said: It is Elias the Thesbite.
9 And he sent to him a captain of fifty, and the fifty men that were under him. And he went up to him, and as he was sitting on the top of a hill, said to him: Man of God, the king hath commanded that thou come down.
10 And Elias answering, said to the captain of fifty: If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee, and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him, and the fifty that were with him.
11 And again he sent to him another captain of fifty men, and his fifty with him. And he said to him: Man of God, thus saith the king: Make haste and come down.
12 Elias answering, said: If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And fire came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.
13 Again he sent a third captain of fifty men, and the fifty that were with him. And when he was come, he fell upon his knees, before Elias, and besought him and said: Man of God, despise not my life, and the lives of thy servants that are with me.
14 Behold fire came down from heaven, and consumed the two first captains of fifty men, and the fifties that were with them: but now I beseech thee to spare my life.
15 And the angel of the Lord spoke to Elias, saying: Go down with him, fear not. He arose therefore, and went down with him to the king,
16 And said to him: Thus saith the Lord: Because thou hast sent messengers to consult Beelzebub the god of Accaron, as though there were not a God in Israel, of whom thou mightest inquire the word; therefore from the bed on which thou art gone up, thou shalt not come down, but thou shalt surely die.
8 But then indeed, not knowing God, you served them, who, by nature, are not gods.
9 But now, after that you have known God, or rather are known by God: how turn you again to the weak and needy elements, which you desire to serve again?
10 You observe days, and months, and times, and years.
11 I am afraid of you, lest perhaps I have laboured in vain among you.
12 Be ye as I, because I also am as you: brethren, I beseech you: you have not injured me at all.
13 And you know, how through infirmity of the flesh, I preached the gospel to you heretofore: and your temptation in my flesh,
14 You despised not, nor rejected: but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
15 Where is then your blessedness? For I bear you witness, that, if it could be done, you would have plucked out your own eyes, and would have given them to me.
16 Am I then become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?
17 They are zealous in your regard not well: but they would exclude you, that you might be zealous for them.
18 But be zealous for that which is good in a good thing always: and not only when I am present with you.
19 My little children, of whom I am in labour again, until Christ be formed in you.
20 And I would willingly be present with you now, and change my voice: because I am ashamed for you.
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