Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 8

To the Chief Musician; set to a Philistine lute, or [possibly] to a particular Hittite tune. A Psalm of David.

¹ O Lord, our Lord, how excellent (majestic and glorious) is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory on [or above] the heavens.

² Out of the mouths of babes and unweaned infants You have established strength because of Your foes, that You might silence the enemy and the avenger.^(A)

³ When I view and consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained and established,

⁴ What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of [earthborn] man that You care for him?

⁵ Yet You have made him but a little lower than God [or heavenly beings], and You have crowned him with glory and honor.

⁶ You made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet:^(B)

⁷ All sheep and oxen, yes, and the beasts of the field,

⁸ The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

⁹ O Lord, our Lord, how excellent (majestic and glorious) is Your name in all the earth!

¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh’s presence and ^[a]took refuge in the land of Midian, where he sat down by a well.

¹⁶ Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.

¹⁷ The shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them and watered their flock.

¹⁸ And when they came to Reuel [Jethro] their father, he said, How is it that you have come so soon today?

¹⁹ They said, An Egyptian delivered us from the shepherds; also he drew water for us and watered the flock.

²⁰ He said to his daughters, Where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.

²¹ And Moses was content to dwell with the man; and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

²² And she bore a son, and he called his name Gershom [expulsion, or a stranger there]; for he said, I have been a stranger and a sojourner in a foreign land.

⁶ Now when Jesus came back to Bethany and was in the house of Simon the leper,

⁷ A woman came up to Him with an alabaster flask of very precious perfume, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at table.

⁸ And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, For what purpose is all this waste?

⁹ For this perfume might have been sold for a large sum and the money given to the poor.

¹⁰ But Jesus, fully aware of this, said to them, Why do you bother the woman? She has done a noble (praiseworthy and beautiful) thing to Me.

¹¹ For you always have the poor among you, but you will not always have Me.^(A)

¹² In pouring this perfume on My body she has done something to prepare Me for My burial.

¹³ Truly I tell you, wherever this good news (the Gospel) is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will be told also, in memory of her.