Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The psalmist’s profession of uprightness.

A Psalm of David.

²⁴ And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Avva, and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof. ²⁵ And so it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not Jehovah: therefore Jehovah sent lions among them, which killed some of them. ²⁶ Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast carried away, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the law of the god of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the law of the god of the land.

²⁷ Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the law of the god of the land. ²⁸ So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Beth-el, and taught them how they should fear Jehovah. ²⁹ Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt. ³⁰ And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, ³¹ and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burnt their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the ^[a]gods of Sepharvaim. ³² So they feared Jehovah, and made unto them from among themselves priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. ³³ They feared Jehovah, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.

³⁴ Unto this day they do after the former manner: they fear not Jehovah, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law or after the commandment which Jehovah commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel; ³⁵ with whom Jehovah had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them: ³⁶ but Jehovah, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, him shall ye fear, and unto him shall ye bow yourselves, and to him shall ye sacrifice: ³⁷ and the statutes and the ordinances, and the law and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods: ³⁸ and the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods: ³⁹ but Jehovah your God shall ye fear; and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies. ⁴⁰ Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner. ⁴¹ So these nations feared Jehovah, and served their graven images; their children likewise, and their children’s children, as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.

¹⁴ These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly; ¹⁵ but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know ^[a]how men ought to behave themselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ^[b]ground of the truth. ¹⁶ And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness;

4 But the Spirit saith expressly, that in later times some shall fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, ² through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies, ^[e]branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron; ³ forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by them that believe and know the truth. ⁴ For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it be received with thanksgiving: ⁵ for it is sanctified through the word of God and prayer.