Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 113
1 Praise the Lord!
Praise, O you servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord.
2 Blessed be the name of the Lord
from this time forth and for evermore.
3 From the rising of the sun to its going down,
the Lord’s name is to be praised.
4 The Lord is high above all nations,
and His glory above the heavens.
5 Who is like the Lord our God,
who dwells on high,
6 who looks down on the things
that are in heaven and on the earth?
7 He raises up the poor out of the dust
and lifts the needy out of the ash heap,
8 to make them sit with princes,
even with the princes of His people.
9 He gives the barren woman a dwelling,
making her the joyful mother of children.
Praise the Lord!
Laws of Justice and Mercy
23 You must not give a false report. Do not join your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness.
2 You must not follow the masses to do evil, and do not testify in a dispute that agrees with the crowd to pervert justice. 3 You must not show partiality to a poor man in his dispute.
4 If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely return it to him. 5 If you see the donkey of someone who hates you lying under its burden, you must not ignore it; you must surely help with him.
6 You shall not turn justice away from your poor in his dispute. 7 Keep far away from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and the righteous, for I will not justify the wicked.
8 You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and subverts the words of the righteous.
9 Also you shall not oppress a foreigner, for you know the life of a foreigner, seeing you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
3 What advantage then does the Jew have? Or what profit is there in circumcision? 2 Much in every way! Chiefly because the oracles of God were entrusted to them.
3 What if some did not believe? Would their unbelief nullify the faithfulness of God? 4 God forbid! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written:
“That You may be justified in Your words,
and may prevail in Your judging.”[a]
5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous in taking vengeance? (I am speaking in human terms.) 6 God forbid! For then how could God judge the world? 7 If through my lie the truth of God has abounded more to His glory, why am I still being judged as a sinner? 8 Why not rather say, “Let us do evil that good may come,” as we are slanderously accused and as some claim that we say? Their condemnation is just.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.