Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 43
1 Vindicate me, O God,
and plead my cause against an ungodly nation;
deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.
2 For You are the God of my refuge;
why have You rejected me?
Why do I walk about mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?
3 Send out Your light and Your truth.
Let them lead me;
let them bring me to Your holy hill,
and to Your dwelling place.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
to the God of my joyful gladness;
with the harp I will give thanks to You,
O God, my God.
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
for I will yet give Him thanks,
the salvation of my countenance and my God.
False Prophets Condemned
13 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 2 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy out of their own hearts, “Hear the word of the Lord!” 3 Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing! 4 O Israel, your prophets are like the foxes in the ruins. 5 You have not gone up into the gaps, nor did you build up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle on the day of the Lord. 6 They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, “The Lord says,” when the Lord has not sent them. And they have made others to hope for the confirmation of their word. 7 Have you not seen a vain vision, and have you not spoken a lying divination when you say, “The Lord says,” yet it is not I who have spoken?
8 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have spoken vanity and seen lies, therefore I am against you, says the Lord God. 9 Thus My hand shall be against the prophets who see vanity and who divine lies. They shall not have a place in the council of My people, nor shall they be written in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter into the land of Israel so that you may know that I am the Lord God.
10 It is surely because they have seduced My people, saying, “Peace,” when there was no peace. And when anyone builds up a wall, they daub it with whitewash. 11 Say to those who daub it with whitewash that it shall fall. There shall be an overflowing shower, and you, O great hailstones, shall fall. And a stormy wind shall break it. 12 When the wall has fallen, will you not be asked, “Where is the whitewash with which you have daubed it?”
13 Therefore thus says the Lord God: I will make a violent wind break out in My fury. And there shall be an overflowing shower in My anger, and hailstones in My fury to consume it. 14 So I will break down the wall that you have daubed with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground so that its foundation is laid bare. And when it falls, you shall be consumed in its midst. And you shall know that I am the Lord. 15 Thus I will accomplish My wrath upon the wall and upon those who have daubed it with whitewash, and I will say to you, The wall is no more, nor those who daubed it, 16 along with the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem and who see visions of peace for her when there is no peace, says the Lord God.
False Prophets and Teachers(A)
2 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their judgment, made long ago, does not linger, and their destruction does not slumber.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.