Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 18[a]
Thanksgiving for God’s Help
1 For the director.[b] Of David, the servant of the Lord. He sang to the Lord the words of this song after the Lord had rescued him from the clutches of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. 2 He said:
I love you, O Lord, my strength,
3 O Lord, my rock,[c] my fortress, my deliverer.
My God is my rock in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation,
my stronghold.
20 He led me forth into the open field;
he set me free because he was pleased with me.
21 The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness;[a]
because my hands were pure, he has rewarded me.
22 For I have kept the ways of the Lord[b]
and refused to turn away from my God.
23 His laws are clearly known to me,
and I have not failed to observe his decrees.
24 I was blameless in his sight,
and I kept myself free of sin.
25 Therefore, the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
because of the cleanness of my hands in his eyes.
26 To the loyal, you show yourself to be loyal;
to the blameless, you show yourself to be blameless;
27 to the pure, you show yourself to be pure;
but to the perverse,[c] you show yourself to be shrewd.
28 For you save the humble,
but you bring down the haughty.
29 You, O Lord, are light for my lamp;[d]
O my God, you make my darkness turn to light.
30 With your help I can storm a rampart;
with my God to aid me, I can scale any wall.
31 The way of God is blameless,
and the Lord’s promise proves true;
he is a shield to all
who flee to him for safety.
32 Indeed, who is God except the Lord?
Who is the Rock besides our God?
14 Therefore, listen to the word of the Lord,
you arrogant rulers of this people in Jerusalem.
15 Proudly you have boasted,
“We have made a covenant with death
and entered into a pact with the netherworld.
And so, when the overwhelming scourge occurs,
it will not afflict us.
For we have made lies our refuge
and taken shelter in falsehood.”
16 Therefore, the Lord God
has this to say to you in response:
Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion,
a stone that has been tested,
a precious cornerstone as a firm foundation;
those who place their trust in it will not falter.
17 And I will make justice the measuring line,
with righteousness as the plumb line.
Hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
and flood waters will submerge your hiding place.
18 Then your covenant with death will be annulled
and your pact with Sheol will not survive.
When the raging waters roar forth,
you will be overwhelmed by them.
19 As often as the flood sweeps through,
it will engulf you,
sweeping over you day and night,
as terror conveys the message clearly.
20 For your bed will be too short
to enable you to stretch out,
and the blanket will be too narrow
to cover you sufficiently.
21 Then the Lord will rise up as on Mount Perazim,
and he will rage as he did in the Valley of Gibeon,
to accomplish his work, his mysterious work,
and to perform his deed, his strange deed.[a]
22 Therefore, cease your arrogance,
or your bonds will be further tightened.
For the Lord God of hosts has revealed to me
the destruction he has decreed for the entire earth.
A Woman of Bethany Anoints Jesus.[a] 6 Now when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came up to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive ointment and poured it over his head as he reclined at table. 8 When the disciples saw this, they became indignant, and they remarked, “Why this waste? 9 This ointment could have been sold for a considerable sum, with the money given to the poor.”
10 Jesus was aware of their attitude, and he said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has performed a good deed for me. 11 The poor you will always have with you,[b] but you will not always have me. 12 In pouring this ointment on my body, she has prepared me for burial. 13 Amen, I say to you, wherever in the whole world this gospel is proclaimed, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”
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