Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 40(A)
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David.
1 I waited patiently for the Lord,
and He turned to me, and heard my cry.
2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
out of the miry clay,
and set my feet on a rock,
and established my steps.
3 He has put a new song in my mouth,
even praise to our God;
many will see it, and fear,
and will trust in the Lord.
4 Blessed is the man
who places trust in the Lord,
but does not turn toward the proud,
nor those falling away to falsehood.
5 O Lord my God,
You have done many wonderful works,
and Your thoughts toward us
cannot be compared;
if I would declare and speak of them,
they are more than can be numbered.
6 Sacrifice and offering You did not desire;
You have opened up my ears to listen.
Burnt offering and sin offering
You have not required.
7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come;
in the scroll of the book it is written of me,
8 I delight to do Your will, O my God;
Your law is within my inward parts.”
A Plea for Repentance
14 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
2 Take words with you
and return to the Lord.
Say to Him,
“Take away all iniquity,
and accept that which is good;
and we will offer the fruit[a] of our lips!
3 Assyria will not save us,
we will not ride on horses.
We will no longer say, ‘Our God,’
to the work of our hands.
In You the orphan finds mercy.”
4 I will heal their backsliding;
I will love them freely,
for My anger has turned away from him.
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;
he shall grow like the lily
and shall strike his roots
like Lebanon.
6 His branches will spread out,
and his beauty shall be like the olive tree,
and his fragrance like that of Lebanon.
7 Those that dwell under his shadow will return,
they will flourish like the grain
and grow as a vine.
Their fragrance will be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?
It is I who answer and look after him.
I am like a green fir tree;
your fruit is found in Me.
9 Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
whoever prudent, let him know them.
For the ways of the Lord are right,
and the just will walk in them;
but the transgressors stumble in them.
The Question About the Sabbath(A)
12 At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry and began to pluck the heads of grain and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”
3 But He said to them, “Have you not read what David and those who were with him did when he was hungry, 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the ritual bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read in the law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, but are blameless? 6 I say to you, in this place there is One who is greater than the temple. 7 If you had known what this meant, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.