Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
21 When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
22 I was stupid and ignorant,
I was like a beast toward thee.
23 Nevertheless I am continually with thee;
thou dost hold my right hand.
24 Thou dost guide me with thy counsel,
and afterward thou wilt receive me to glory.[a]
25 Whom have I in heaven but thee?
And there is nothing upon earth that I desire besides thee.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength[b] of my heart and my portion for ever.
27 For lo, those who are far from thee shall perish;
thou dost put an end to those who are false to thee.
28 But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
that I may tell of all thy works.
22 A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
and favor is better than silver or gold.
2 The rich and the poor meet together;
the Lord is the maker of them all.
3 A prudent man sees danger and hides himself;
but the simple go on, and suffer for it.
4 The reward for humility and fear of the Lord
is riches and honor and life.
5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse;
he who guards himself will keep far from them.
6 Train up a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not depart from it.
7 The rich rules over the poor,
and the borrower is the slave of the lender.
8 He who sows injustice will reap calamity,
and the rod of his fury will fail.
9 He who has a bountiful eye will be blessed,
for he shares his bread with the poor.
10 Drive out a scoffer, and strife will go out,
and quarreling and abuse will cease.
11 He who loves purity of heart,
and whose speech is gracious, will have the king as his friend.
12 The eyes of the Lord keep watch over knowledge,
but he overthrows the words of the faithless.
13 The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside!
I shall be slain in the streets!”
14 The mouth of a loose woman is a deep pit;
he with whom the Lord is angry will fall into it.
15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child,
but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.
16 He who oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth,
or gives to the rich, will only come to want.
Sayings of the Wise
17 Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise,
and apply your mind to my knowledge;
18 for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you,
if all of them are ready on your lips.
19 That your trust may be in the Lord,
I have made them known to you today, even to you.
20 Have I not written for you thirty sayings
of admonition and knowledge,
21 to show you what is right and true,
that you may give a true answer to those who sent you?
None Is Righteous
9 What then? Are we Jews any better off?[a] No, not at all; for I[b] have already charged that all men, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, 10 as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands, no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside, together they have gone wrong;
no one does good, not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave,
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood,
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they do not know.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For no human being will be justified in his sight by works of the law, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.