Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
BOOK I
(Psalms 1–41)
Psalm 1
The Two Ways
1 How happy is the man
who does not follow[a] the advice of the wicked
or take[b] the path of sinners
or join a group[c] of mockers!(A)
2 Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction,
and he meditates on it day and night.(B)
3 He is like a tree planted beside streams of water[d]
that bears its fruit in season[e](C)
and whose leaf does not wither.(D)
Whatever he does prospers.(E)
20 Look up and see
those coming from the north.(A)
Where is the flock entrusted to you,
the sheep that were your pride?
The Destiny of Jerusalem
21 What will you say when He appoints
close friends as leaders over you,
ones you yourself trained?
Won’t labor pains seize you,(B)
as they do a woman in labor?
22 And when you ask yourself,
“Why have these things happened to me?”
It is because of your great guilt(C)
that your skirts have been stripped off,(D)
your body exposed.[a]
23 Can the Cushite change his skin,
or a leopard his spots?
If so, you might be able to do what is good,(E)
you who are instructed in evil.
24 I will scatter you[b] like drifting chaff(F)
before the desert wind.
25 This is your lot,
what I have decreed for you—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
because you have forgotten Me
and trusted in Falsehood.[c](G)
26 I will pull your skirts up over your face
so that your shame might be seen.(H)
27 Your adulteries and your lustful neighing,(I)
your heinous prostitution
on the hills, in the fields—
I have seen your detestable acts.
Woe to you, Jerusalem!
You are unclean—
for how long yet?(J)
17 And if you address as Father the One who judges impartially(A) based on each one’s work,(B) you are to conduct yourselves in fear(C) during the time of your temporary residence. 18 For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life(D) inherited from the fathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold,(E) 19 but with the precious blood of Christ,(F) like that of a lamb(G) without defect or blemish. 20 He was chosen[a](H) before the foundation of the world but was revealed at the end of the times(I) for you 21 who through Him are believers in God,(J) who raised Him from the dead(K) and gave Him glory,(L) so that your faith and hope are in God.
22 By obedience to the truth,[b] having purified yourselves[c] for sincere love of the brothers, love one another(M) earnestly[d] from a pure[e] heart,(N) 23 since you have been born again(O)—not of perishable seed(P) but of imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God.(Q) 24 For
All flesh is like grass,
and all its glory(R) like a flower of the grass.
The grass withers, and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.(S)[f]
And this is the word that was preached as the gospel to you.
The Living Stone and a Holy People
2 So rid yourselves of(T) all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander.(U)
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