Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Walking with Integrity
Psalm 26
1 Of David.
Vindicate me, Adonai,
for I have walked in my integrity,
and trusted in Adonai without wavering.
2 Probe me, Adonai, and test me,
refine my mind and my heart.
3 For Your love is before my eyes
and I have walked in Your truth.
4 I have not sat with men of falsehood,
nor do I consort with hypocrites.
5 I detest the company of evildoers,
and do not sit with the wicked.
6 I will wash my hands in innocence,
so I can walk around Your altar, Adonai,
7 hearing the voice of thanksgiving
while proclaiming all Your wonders.
8 Adonai, I love the House where You live,
the place where Your glory dwells.
9 Do not take my soul away with sinners,
nor my life with people of bloodshed—
10 in whose hands are wicked schemes,
whose right hand is full of bribes.
11 But I—I will walk in my integrity.
Redeem me and be gracious to me.
12 My feet stand on level ground.
In congregations I will bless Adonai.
Futility of Days
7 “Does not man have hard labor on earth?
Are not his days like those of a hired laborer?
2 Like a slave longing for the shadow,
or a hired man waiting for his pay,
3 so I have inherited months of futility,
and nights of distress have been appointed to me.
4 When I lay down I say, “When will I rise?”
The night drags on, and I toss until the day dawns.
5 My flesh is clothed with maggots and clods of dirt;
My skin is broken and festering.
6 My days fly faster than a weaver’s shuttle
and come to an end without hope.
7 Remember, my life is but a breath;
my eyes will not see goodness again!
8 The eye that sees me now will see me no more;
your eyes will be on me, but I will be no more.
9 As a cloud vanishes and is gone,
so one descending into Sheol does not come up;
10 he will never return to his house,
his place does not know him.
11 “So I will not keep silent;
I will speak in the distress of my spirit,
I will complain in bitterness of soul.
12 Am I a sea, or a monster of the deep
that You have set a watch over me?
13 When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,
my couch will ease my complaint,’
14 then You frighten me with dreams,
and terrify me with visions,
15 so that my soul prefers strangulation,
and my bones death.
16 I despise it; I would not live forever.
Leave me alone, for my days are a vapor.
17 “What is mankind,
that You magnify him,
that You set Your heart on him,
18 that You visit him every morning,
and test him in every moment?
19 Will You never look away from me,
or let me alone until I swallow my spittle?
20 Have I sinned—
what have I done to You,
O watcher of men?
Why have You set me as Your target?
Have I become a burden to You?
21 Why do You not pardon my transgression,
and take away my iniquity?
For now I will lie down in the dust,
and You will search for me,
but I will be gone.”
The Pharisees Listen In
14 Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and sneering at Yeshua. 15 But He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves before the people, but God knows your hearts.[a] For what is prized among men is detestable in God’s sight.”
16 “The Torah and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since then, the Good News of the kingdom of God is being proclaimed, and everyone tries forcing his way in. 17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a single serif[b] of the Torah to fail. 18 Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery. And he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.