Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 120
A Song of Ascents.
1 In my distress I cried unto the Lord,
and He heard me.
2 Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips
and from a deceitful tongue.
3 What shall be given to you,
or what shall be done to you, you false tongue?
4 Sharp arrows of the warrior,
with coals of the broom tree!
5 Woe is me, that I have sojourned in Meshek,
or that I have dwelled among the tents of Kedar!
6 My soul has long lived
with those who hate peace.
7 I am for peace,
but when I speak, they are for war!
11 For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, who became king instead of Josiah his father, who went from this place: He will not return any more, 12 but will die in the place where they have led him captive and will see this land no more.
13 Woe to him who builds his house with unrighteousness
and his chambers with injustice,
who uses his neighbor’s services without wages,
and gives him nothing for his work,
14 who says, “I will build myself a roomy house
and large chambers,”
and cuts out its windows,
paneling it with cedar
and painting it with vermilion.
15 Do you reign
because you compete in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
and do justice and righteousness,
and then it was well with him?
16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
then it was well with him.
Is not this what it means to know Me?
says the Lord.
17 But your eyes and your heart
are intent only on your covetousness
and on shedding innocent blood
and on oppression and violence.
The Denouncing of the Pharisees and Lawyers(A)
37 As He spoke, a Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. So He went in and sat down to eat. 38 When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first washed before dinner.
39 Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the dish. But inside you are full of extortion and wickedness. 40 You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give alms from what is within. And then all things are clean to you.
42 “Woe to you, Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb and pass over justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.
43 “Woe to you, Pharisees! For you love the prominent seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.
44 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like unseen graves, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them.”
45 One of the lawyers answered, “Teacher, by saying these things You insult us also.”
46 He said, “Woe to you also, you lawyers! For you load men with burdens difficult to carry, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.
47 “Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. 48 So you are witnesses and entirely approve the deeds of your fathers, because they killed them, and you build their tombs. 49 Therefore also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’ 50 that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the beginning of the world, may be required from this generation, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it shall be required from this generation.
52 “Woe to you, lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.