Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
To the Overcomer on Neginoth, Maschil, A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ Give ear to my prayer, O God, and do not hide thyself from my supplication.
2 Attend unto me and hear me: I mourn in my complaint and make a noise
3 because of the voice of the enemy because of the oppression of the wicked; for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me.
4 My heart is sore pained within me, and the terrors of death are fallen upon me.
5 Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror has overwhelmed me.
6 And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then I would fly away and be at rest.
7 Behold, then I would flee far away and dwell in the wilderness. Selah.
8 I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest.
9 ¶ Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues, for I have seen violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof; iniquity also and sorrow are in the midst of it.
11 Wickedness is in the midst thereof; deceit and guile depart not from her streets.
12 For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it, neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him:
13 But it was thou, who in my estimation was, my lord, and of my own family.
14 We took sweet counsel together and walked unto the house of God in company.
15 Let them be condemned unto death, and let them go down alive into Sheol for wickedness is in their dwellings and among them.
15 ¶ Then Eliphaz, the Temanite, answered, and said,
2 Should a wise man utter vain knowledge and fill his belly with the east wind?
3 Should he dispute with useless words and with reasons that are not profitable?
4 Thou dost also cast off fear and undermine prayer before God.
5 For thy mouth has declared thine iniquity, and thou hast chosen the tongue of the crafty.
6 Thine own mouth shall condemn thee, and not I; thine own lips shall testify against thee.
7 Wast thou born before Adam? Or wast thou formed before the hills?
8 Hast thou heard the secret of God, that thou dost detain wisdom in thee alone?
9 What dost thou know that we do not? What dost thou understand, which is not in us?
10 Among us are also gray hairs; there are also aged men, much elder than thy father.
11 Are the consolations of God in such small esteem with thee? Is there by chance any secret thing concerning thee?
12 Why does thine heart carry thee away, and why do thine eyes blink,
13 that thou dost reply unto God with thy spirit and bring forth such words out of thy mouth?
14 What is man that he should be clean and that he that is born of a woman should be justified?
15 Behold, he puts no trust in his saints, and not even the heavens are clean in his sight.
16 How much less the man who is abominable and filthy, who drinks iniquity like water?
17 ¶ Listen to me and I will show thee and declare unto thee that which I have seen,
18 that which the wise men have told us of their fathers and have not hid it,
19 unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.
20 The wicked man travails with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden from the violent.
21 Fearful sounds are in his ears; in peace the destroyer shall come upon him.
22 He will not believe that he shall return out of darkness, and he is always watching the sword.
23 He wanders abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? He knows that the day of darkness is prepared for him.
24 Tribulation and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
25 Because he extended his hand against God and strengthens himself against the Almighty,
26 he shall run him through in the neck, upon the thick shoulder pieces of his shields;
27 for he covered his face with his fatness and made collops of fat on his flanks;
28 and he dwelt in desolate cities and in houses which no one inhabited, which were in heaps.
29 He shall not become rich, nor shall his strength be established, neither shall he extend his beauty upon the earth.
30 He shall not escape from the darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth he shall perish.
31 He shall not be established; in vanity he shall err; therefore, he shall be changed into vanity.
32 He shall be cut off before his time, and his branch shall not be green.
33 He shall shake off his sour grapes as the vine and shall cast off his flower as the olive.
34 For the congregation of the hypocrites shall be made desolate, and fire shall consume the tents of bribery.
35 They conceive pain and bring forth iniquity, and their belly meditates deceit.
27 ¶ Ye have heard that it was said to the ancients, Thou shalt not commit adultery;
28 but I say unto you, That whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.
29 Therefore if thy right eye should bring thee occasion to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from thee; for it is better for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
30 And if thy right hand should bring thee occasion to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is better for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
31 It was also said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a bill of divorce;
32 but I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, except for the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery; and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced commits adultery.
33 ¶ Again, ye have heard that it was said to the ancients, Thou shalt not perjure thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths;
34 but I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by the heaven, for it is God’s throne,
35 nor by the earth, for it is his footstool, neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
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