Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 12
For the Music Director. According to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David.
1 Help, Lord, for the godly man comes to an end,
for the faithful disappear from sons of men.
2 They speak empty words, each with his own neighbor;
they speak with flattering lips and a double heart.
3 The Lord will cut off all flattering lips,
and the tongue that speaks proud things,
4 who have said, “With our tongue will we prevail;
our lips are in our control, who is master over us?”
5 “Because the poor are plundered,
because the needy sigh,
now I will arise,” says the Lord;
“I will place him in the safety for which he yearns.”
6 The words of the Lord are pure words;
they are silver tried in an earthen furnace
refined seven times.
7 You will keep them, O Lord;
You will preserve them from this generation.
8 The wicked walk on every side,
when the worthless of mankind are exalted.
17 Better is a dry morsel with quietness
than a house full of sacrifices with strife.
2 A wise servant will have rule over a son who causes shame,
and will have part of the inheritance among the brothers.
3 The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold,
but the Lord tries the hearts.
4 A wicked doer gives heed to false lips,
and a liar gives ear to a wayward tongue.
5 Whoever mocks the poor reproaches his Maker,
and he who is glad at calamities will not be unpunished.
19 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself servant to all, that I might win even more. 20 To the Jews, I became as a Jew, that I might win the Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; 21 to those who are outside the law, as outside the law (being not without God’s law, but under Christ’s law) that I might win those who are outside the law. 22 To the weak, I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 23 This I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might partake of it with you.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.