Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
44 Unto the end, for them that shall be changed, for the sons of Core, for understanding. A canticle for the Beloved.
2 My heart hath uttered a good word I speak my works to the king; My tongue is the pen of a scrivener that writeth swiftly.
3 Thou art beautiful above the sons of men: grace is poured abroad in thy lips; therefore hath God blessed thee for ever.
4 Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O thou most mighty.
5 With thy comeliness and thy beauty set out, proceed prosperously, and reign. Because of truth and meekness and justice: and thy right hand shall conduct thee wonderfully.
6 Thy arrows are sharp: under thee shall people fall, into the hearts of the king's enemies.
7 Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a sceptre of uprightness.
8 Thou hast loved justice, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
9 Myrrh and stacte and cassia perfume thy garments, from the ivory houses: out of which
10 The daughters of kings have delighted thee in thy glory. The queen stood on thy right hand, in gilded clothing; surrounded with variety.
11 Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thy ear: and forget thy people and thy father's house.
12 And the king shall greatly desire thy beauty; for he is the Lord thy God, and him they shall adore.
13 And the daughters of Tyre with gifts, yea, all the rich among the people, shall entreat thy countenance.
14 All the glory of the king's daughter is within in golden borders,
15 Clothed round about with varieties. After her shall virgins be brought to the king: her neighbours shall be brought to thee.
16 They shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing: they shall be brought into the temple of the king.
17 Instead of thy fathers, sons are born to thee: thou shalt make them princes over all the earth.
18 They shall remember thy name throughout all generations. Therefore shall people praise thee for ever; yea, for ever and ever.
11 And thou also, O Juda, set thee a harvest, when I shall bring back the captivity of my people.
7 When I would have healed Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria, for they have committed falsehood, and the thief is come in to steal, the robber is without.
2 And lest they may say in their hearts, that I remember all their wickedness: their own devices now have beset them about, they have been done before my face.
3 They have made the king glad with their wickedness: and the princes with their lies.
4 They are all adulterers, like an oven heated by the baker: the city rested a little from the mingling of the leaven, till the whole was leavened.
5 The day of our king, the princes began to be mad with wine: he stretched out his hand with scorners.
6 Because they have applied their heart like an oven, when he laid snares for them: he slept all the night baking them, in the morning he himself was heated as a flaming fire.
7 They were all heated like an oven, and have devoured their judges: all their kings have fallen: there is none amongst them that calleth unto me.
8 Ephraim himself is mixed among the nations: Ephraim is become as bread baked under the ashes, that is not turned.
9 Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knew it not: yea, grey hairs also are spread about upon him, and he is ignorant of it.
10 And the pride of Israel shall be humbled before his face: and they have not returned to the Lord their God, nor have they sought him in all these.
11 And Ephraim is become as a dove that is decoyed, not having a heart: they called upon Egypt, they went to the Assyrians.
12 And when they shall go, I will spread my net upon them: I will bring them down as the fowl of the air, I will strike them as their congregation hath heard.
13 Woe to them, for they have departed from me: they shall be wasted because they have transgressed against me: and I redeemed them: and they have spoken lies against me.
14 And they have not cried to me with their heart, but they howled in their beds: they have thought upon wheat and wine, they are departed from me.
15 And I have chastised them, and strengthened their arms: and they have imagined evil against me.
16 They returned, that they might be without yoke: they became like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword, for the rage of their tongue. This is their derision in the land of Egypt.
43 You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thy enemy.
44 But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you:
45 That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust.
46 For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? do not even the publicans this?
47 And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? do not also the heathens this?
48 Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.
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