Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

To the Overcomer upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David.

¹ ¶ My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my cry?

² O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.

³ But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest in the midst of the praises of Israel.

⁴ Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.

⁵ They cried unto thee and were delivered: they trusted in thee and were not confounded.

⁶ But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men and despised of the people.

⁷ All those that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,

⁸ Turn him over to the LORD, let him deliver him, let him save him, seeing he delighted in him.

⁹ But thou art he that took me out of the womb; thou hast made me wait upon thee since I was upon my mother’s breasts.

¹⁰ I was cast upon thee from the womb; thou art my God from my mother’s belly.

¹¹ ¶ Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is no one to help.

¹² Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round about.

¹³ They opened their mouth upon me as a ravening and a roaring lion.

¹⁴ I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.

¹⁵ My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

20 ¶ Then Zophar, the Naamathite, answered and said,

² My thoughts certainly cause me to answer, and therefore, I make haste.

³ I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my intelligence causes me to answer.

⁴ Dost thou not know this that always was, since man was placed upon earth,

⁵ that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?

⁶ Though his excellency mounts up to the heavens, and his head reaches unto the clouds,

⁷ yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung; those who have seen him shall say, What is become of him?

⁸ He shall fly away as a dream and shall not be found: yea, he shall flee away as a vision of the night.

⁹ The eye which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place behold him any more.

¹⁰ ¶ His poor sons shall go forth begging, and their hands shall restore that which he stole.

¹¹ His bones are full of the sins of his youth, which shall be buried with him in the dust.

¹² If wickedness was sweet in his mouth, if he hid it under his tongue,

¹³ if it seemed good unto him, and he did not forsake it, but savored it within his mouth,

¹⁴ his food shall be changed in his bowels, it shall be the gall of asps within him.

¹⁵ He has swallowed down riches, but he shall vomit them up again; God shall cast them out of his belly.

¹⁶ He shall suck the poison of asps; the viper’s tongue shall slay him.

¹⁷ He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.

¹⁸ He shall restore the work that was not his; according to the substance that he took; neither shall he devour, nor rejoice.

¹⁹ Because he oppressed and forsook the poor; because he has violently taken away houses which he did not build,

²⁰ therefore, he shall not feel quietness in his belly; he shall not escape with that which he desired.

²¹ Nothing is left that he did not eat; therefore, his goods shall not last.

²² In the fullness of his sufficiency, he shall come into anguish; the hands of all the wicked shall come upon him.

²³ ¶ When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him and shall rain it upon him and upon his food.

²⁴ He shall flee from the weapons of iron, and the bow of bronze shall strike him through.

²⁵ He shall draw forth an arrow from his quiver, and like lightning it shall strike through his gall; terrors shall come upon him.

²⁶ All darkness is kept for his secrets; a fire not blown shall consume him; his successor shall be broken in his tent.

²⁷ The heavens shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.

²⁸ The increase of his house shall be taken captive; they shall be scattered in the day of his wrath.

²⁹ This is the portion of a wicked man from God and the heritage that God appoints unto him by his word.

15 ¶ Then certain scribes and Pharisees of Jerusalem came unto Jesus, saying,

² Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.

³ But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

⁴ For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother, and, He that curses father or mother, let him die without recourse.

⁵ But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, Whatever I might have helped thee with is already my offering unto God,

⁶ and now has no need to honour his father or his mother with succour. Thus ye have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.

⁷ Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,

⁸ This people draws nigh unto me with their mouth and honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

⁹ But in vain do they worship me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men.