Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 5

To the Chief Musician; on wind instruments. A Psalm of David.

¹ Listen to my words, O Lord, give heed to my sighing and groaning.

² Hear the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to You do I pray.

³ In the morning You hear my voice, O Lord; in the morning I prepare [a prayer, a sacrifice] for You and watch and wait [for You to speak to my heart].

⁴ For You are not a God Who takes pleasure in wickedness; neither will the evil [man] so much as dwell [temporarily] with You.

⁵ Boasters can have no standing in Your sight; You abhor all evildoers.

⁶ You will destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors [and rejects] the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

⁷ But as for me, I will enter Your house through the abundance of Your steadfast love and mercy; I will worship toward and at Your holy temple in reverent fear and awe of You.

⁸ Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; make Your way level (straight and right) before my face.

³⁵ And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his neighbor, At the command of the Lord, strike me, I pray you. And the man refused to strike him.

³⁶ Then said he to him, Because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as you have left me a lion will slay you. And as soon as he departed from him, a lion found him and killed him.

³⁷ Then [the prophet] found another man and said, Strike me, I pray you. And the man struck him, so that in striking, he wounded him.

³⁸ So the prophet departed and waited for King Ahab by the way, and disguised himself with ashes upon his face.

³⁹ And as the king passed by, the [prophet] cried out to him, Your servant went out into the midst of the battle, and behold, a man turned aside and brought a man to me and said, Keep this man. If for any reason he is missing, then your life shall be required for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.

⁴⁰ But while your servant was busy here and there, he was gone. And the king of Israel said to him, Such is your own verdict; you yourself have decided it.

⁴¹ The man hastily removed the ashes from his face, and Ahab king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets.

⁴² And he said to the king, Thus says the Lord: Because you have let go out of your hand the man I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.

⁴³ And King [Ahab] of Israel went to his house resentful and sullen, and came to Samaria.^(A)

¹⁷ One of those days, as He was teaching, there were Pharisees and teachers of the Law sitting by, who had come from every village and town of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was [present] with Him to heal ^[a]them.

¹⁸ And behold, some men were bringing on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed, and they tried to carry him in and lay him before [Jesus].

¹⁹ But finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him with his stretcher through the tiles into the midst, in front of Jesus.

²⁰ And when He saw [their confidence in Him, springing from] their faith, He said, Man, your sins are forgiven you!

²¹ And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason and question and argue, saying, Who is this [Man] Who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?

²² But Jesus, knowing their thoughts and questionings, answered them, Why do you question in your hearts?

²³ Which is easier: to say, Your sins are forgiven you, or to say, Arise and walk [about]?

²⁴ But that you may know that the Son of Man has the [^[b]power of] authority and right on earth to forgive sins, He said to the paralyzed man, I say to you, arise, pick up your litter (stretcher), and go to your own house!

²⁵ And instantly [the man] stood up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went away to his house, ^[c]recognizing and praising and thanking God.

²⁶ And overwhelming astonishment and ecstasy seized them all, and they ^[d]recognized and praised and thanked God; and they were filled with and controlled by reverential fear and kept saying, We have seen wonderful and strange and incredible and unthinkable things today!