Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
BOOK I
(Psalms 1–41)
Psalm 1
1 The truly happy person
doesn’t follow wicked advice,
doesn’t stand on the road of sinners,
and doesn’t sit with the disrespectful.
2 Instead of doing those things,
these persons love the Lord’s Instruction,
and they recite God’s Instruction day and night!
3 They are like a tree replanted by streams of water,
which bears fruit at just the right time
and whose leaves don’t fade.
Whatever they do succeeds.
4 That’s not true for the wicked!
They are like dust that the wind blows away.
5 And that’s why the wicked will have no standing in the court of justice—
neither will sinners
in the assembly of the righteous.
6 The Lord is intimately acquainted
with the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked is destroyed.
17 Judah’s sin is engraved
with an iron pen.
It’s etched with a diamond point
on the tablets of their hearts
and on the horns of their altars.
2 Their children remember their altars and sacred poles[a]
by the lush trees and high hills.
3 Because you have committed such sins throughout your country,
I will give to your enemies
my mountain in the land,
as well as your wealth and all that you treasure.[b]
4 You will lose the inheritance that I gave you.
I will make you slaves of your enemies
in a land you don’t know,
for my anger blazes like a fire
that won’t go out.
24 When an unclean spirit leaves a person, it wanders through dry places looking for a place to rest. But it doesn’t find any. Then it says, ‘I’ll go back to the house I left.’ 25 When it arrives, it finds the house cleaned up and decorated. 26 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself. They go in and make their home there. That person is worse off at the end than at the beginning.”
On seeking signs
27 While Jesus was saying these things, a certain woman in the crowd spoke up: “Happy is the mother who gave birth to you and who nursed you.”
28 But he said, “Happy rather are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.”
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible