Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Protestation of integrity, and prayer for protection.
A Psalm of David.
26 Judge me, O Jehovah, for I have walked in mine integrity:
I have trusted also in Jehovah [a]without wavering.
2 Examine me, O Jehovah, and prove me;
Try my [b]heart and my mind.
3 For thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes;
And I have walked in thy truth.
4 I have not sat with men of falsehood;
Neither will I go in with dissemblers.
5 I hate the assembly of evil-doers,
And will not sit with the wicked.
6 I will wash my hands in innocency:
So will I compass thine altar, O Jehovah;
7 That I may [c]make the voice of thanksgiving to be heard,
And tell of all thy wondrous works.
8 Jehovah, I love the habitation of thy house,
And the place [d]where thy glory dwelleth.
9 [e]Gather not my soul with sinners,
Nor my life with men of blood;
10 In whose hands is wickedness,
And their right hand is full of bribes.
11 But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity:
Redeem me, and be merciful unto me.
12 My foot standeth in an even place:
In the congregations will I bless Jehovah.
7 Is there not a [a]warfare to man upon earth?
And are not his days like the days of a hireling?
2 As a servant that earnestly desireth the shadow,
And as a hireling that looketh for his wages:
3 So am I made to possess months of misery,
And wearisome nights are appointed to me.
4 When I lie down, I say,
When shall I arise, and the night be gone?
And I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.
5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust;
My skin [b]closeth up, and breaketh out afresh.
6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,
And are spent without hope.
7 Oh remember that my life is a breath:
Mine eye shall no more see good.
8 The eye of him that seeth me shall behold me no more;
Thine eyes shall be upon me, but I shall not be.
9 As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away,
So he that goeth down to Sheol shall come up no more.
10 He shall return no more to his house,
Neither shall his place know him any more.
11 Therefore I will not refrain my mouth;
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12 Am I a sea, or a sea-monster,
That thou settest a watch over me?
13 When I say, My bed shall comfort me,
My couch shall ease my complaint;
14 Then thou scarest me with dreams,
And terrifiest me through visions:
15 So that my soul chooseth strangling,
And death rather than these my bones.
16 [c]I loathe my life; I [d]would not live alway:
Let me alone; for my days are [e]vanity.
17 What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him,
And that thou shouldest set thy mind upon him,
18 And that thou shouldest visit him every morning,
And try him every moment?
19 How long wilt thou not look away from me,
Nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?
20 If I have sinned, what [f]do I unto thee, O thou [g]watcher of men?
Why hast thou set me as a mark for thee,
So that I am a burden to myself?
21 And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity?
For now shall I lie down in the dust;
And thou wilt seek me diligently, but I shall not be.
14 And the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things; and they scoffed at him. 15 And he said unto them, Ye are they that justify yourselves in the sight of men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. 16 The law and the prophets were until John: from that time the [a]gospel of the kingdom of God is preached, and every man entereth violently into it. 17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tittle of the law to fall.
18 Every one that putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and he that marrieth one that is put away from a husband committeth adultery.
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