Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 82[a]
Judgment on Abuse of Authority
1 A psalm of Asaph.[b]
God takes his place in the divine council;[c]
in the midst of the gods he pronounces judgment:
2 “How long will you issue unfair judgments
and rule in favor of those who are wicked?[d] Selah
3 [e]“Grant justice to the weak and the orphan;
defend the rights of the lowly and the poor.
4 Rescue the wretched and the needy;
free them from the hand of the wicked.
5 “They neither know nor understand;
they wander around in darkness
while all the foundations of the earth[f] are crumbling.
6 [g]I declare, ‘Although you are gods,
all of you sons of the Most High,
7 you will die as all men do;
like any ruler you will fall.’ ”[h]
8 Rise up, O God, and judge the earth,
for all the nations belong to you.[i]
Chapter 6
The Return of the Ark of God. 1 When the Ark of the Lord had been held in Philistine territory for seven months, 2 the Philistines summoned the priests and diviners and said, “What should we do with the Ark of the Lord? Tell us how to send it back home.”
3 They answered, “If you return the Ark of the God of Israel, do not send it away empty-handed. Rather, send a guilt offering to him. Then you will be healed, and you will understand why he continued to afflict you.”[a] 4 They then asked, “What sort of guilt offering should be made to him?” They answered, “Send five golden tumors and five golden mice, as many as the lords of the Philistines, for the plague was on you all, lords included. 5 You should make offerings in the likeness of tumors and in the likeness of the mice that have been ravaging the land, and give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will ease up on you, your gods, and your land.
6 “Why would you harden your hearts, like the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When he dealt harshly with them, did they not let them go, and they went their way?
7 [b]“Prepare a cart drawn by two milk cows that have calves but have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take the calves away, leading them home. 8 Take the Ark of the Lord and place it upon the cart, and put the figures of gold that you are sending back as a guilt offering in a box at its side. Then send it off, and let it go its way. 9 Watch it, and if it goes up the road to its own land, to Beth-shemesh, then it is clear that he has brought this great woe upon us. But if it does not, then we shall know that it was not he who punished us, that it happened by chance.”
10 The Ark at Beth-shemesh. The men did this. They took two milk cows and tied them to a cart, shutting up their calves at home. 11 They then put the Ark of the Lord upon the cart along with the box containing the golden mice and the statues of the tumors. 12 The cows went straight up to Beth-shemesh, sticking to the road and lowing as they went along. They did not waver in their course to the right nor the left. The lords of the Philistines followed them as far as the border with Beth-shemesh.
13 Now the people of Beth-shemesh were harvesting their wheat in the valley when they looked up and saw the Ark. They rejoiced at what they saw. 14 The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh, and it stopped there by a large rock. The people chopped up the wood from the cart and offered up the milk cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15 The Levites lowered the Ark down along with the box that contained the objects made of gold and placed them on the large rock. On that day the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and performed sacrifices to the Lord.
16 The five lords of the Philistines saw all of this and returned to Ekron that same day.
15 The Great Trial.[a]“Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, about which the prophet Daniel spoke, standing in the Holy Place (let the reader understand), 16 then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, 17 the one who is standing on the roof must not come down to collect what is in his house, 18 and someone who is in the field must not turn back to retrieve his coat.
19 “Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! 20 Pray that you will not have to take flight in the winter or on a Sabbath. 21 For at that time there will be great suffering that has not been equaled since the beginning of the world until now, and will never again be duplicated. 22 And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect they will be shortened.
23 False Messiahs and False Prophets.“Therefore, if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There he is,’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will arise, and they will perform great signs and wonders that are impressive enough to deceive even the elect, if that were possible.
25 “Remember, I have forewarned you about this. 26 So if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out there. If they say, ‘Behold, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For just as lightning comes from the east and is visible even in the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
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