Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Blessed Is Everyone Who Fears the Lord
A Song of (A)Ascents.
128 (B)Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
who (C)walks in his ways!
2 You (D)shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;
you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.
27 Do not boast about tomorrow,
(A)for you do not know what a day may bring.
2 Let (B)another praise you, and not your own mouth;
a stranger, and not your own lips.
3 A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty,
but (C)a fool's provocation is heavier than both.
4 Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming,
but who can stand before (D)jealousy?
5 (E)Better is open rebuke
than hidden love.
6 Faithful are (F)the wounds of a friend;
profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
7 One who is full loathes (G)honey,
but to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet.
8 Like (H)a bird that strays from its nest
is a man who strays from his home.
9 (I)Oil and perfume make the heart glad,
and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.[a]
10 Do not forsake your friend and (J)your father's friend,
and do not go to your brother's house in the day of your calamity.
(K)Better is a neighbor who is near
than a brother who is far away.
11 (L)Be wise, (M)my son, and (N)make my heart glad,
that I may (O)answer him who reproaches me.
12 (P)The prudent sees danger and hides himself,
but (Q)the simple go on and suffer for it.
13 (R)Take a man's garment when he has put up security for a stranger,
and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for an adulteress.[b]
14 Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice,
rising early in the morning,
will be counted as cursing.
15 (S)A continual dripping on a rainy day
and a quarrelsome wife are alike;
16 to restrain her is to restrain the wind
or to grasp[c] oil in one's right hand.
17 Iron sharpens iron,
and one man sharpens another.[d]
18 (T)Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit,
and he who (U)guards his master will be honored.
19 As in water face reflects face,
so the heart of man reflects the man.
20 (V)Sheol and Abaddon are (W)never satisfied,
and (X)never satisfied are the eyes of man.
21 (Y)The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold,
and a man is tested by his praise.
22 (Z)Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle
along with crushed grain,
yet his folly will not depart from him.
23 (AA)Know well the condition of your flocks,
and (AB)give attention to your herds,
24 for (AC)riches do not last forever;
and does a crown endure to all generations?
25 (AD)When the grass is gone and the new growth appears
and the vegetation of the mountains is gathered,
26 (AE)the lambs will provide your clothing,
and the goats the price of a field.
27 (AF)There will be enough goats' milk for your food,
for the food of your household
and maintenance for your girls.
8 (A)Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. (B)Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and (C)purify your hearts, (D)you double-minded. 9 (E)Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 (F)Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
11 (G)Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.[a] The one who speaks against a brother or (H)judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only (I)one lawgiver and (J)judge, he who is able to save and (K)to destroy. But (L)who are you to judge your neighbor?
Boasting About Tomorrow
13 Come now, you who say, (M)“Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For (N)you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, (O)“If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. (P)All such boasting is evil. 17 (Q)So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.