Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Prayer for Help
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A ·maskil [skillful psalm; meditation] of David when the Ziphites went to Saul and said, “·We think David is [L Is not David…?] hiding among ·our people [L us; 1 Sam. 23:13–29; 26:1].”
54 God, ·save [give victory to] me ·because of who you are [L by your name].
By your ·strength [L name] ·show that I am innocent [contend for me].
2 Hear my prayer, God;
·listen [L give ear] to ·what I say [L the speech of my mouth].
3 Strangers ·turn [L rise up] against me,
and ·cruel people want to kill me [L violent people seek my life].
They do not ·care about God [think about God; L set God before them]. ·
4 ·See [T Behold], God ·will help me [L is my helper];
the Lord ·will support me [L is with/or among those who uphold me].
5 Let ·my enemies be punished with their own evil [L evil return to my enemies].
·Destroy [Put an end to] them because ·you are loyal to me [L of your faithfulness].
6 I will ·offer a sacrifice as a special gift [sacrifice a freewill offering] to you.
I will ·thank [praise] ·you [L your name], Lord, because you are good.
7 You have ·saved [rescued] me from all my ·troubles [distress],
and ·I have seen my enemies defeated [L my eyes have looked on my enemies].
5 Then the king of Assyria ·came and attacked [invaded] all the land of Israel. He ·surrounded [besieged] Samaria for three years. 6 He ·defeated [captured] Samaria in the ninth year Hoshea was king, and he ·took [carried; exiled; deported] the Israelites away to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes.
Israelites Punished for Sin
7 All these things happened because the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] had sinned against the Lord their God. He had brought them out of Egypt and had rescued them from the ·power [L hand] of Pharaoh the king of Egypt [Ex. 20:2], but ·the Israelites [L they] had ·honored [revered; feared] other gods [Deut. 29:26]. 8 They ·lived like [followed/L walked in the practices of] the nations the Lord had ·forced [driven] out of the land ahead of them. They lived as their evil kings had shown them, 9 secretly ·sinning [doing things that were not right] against the Lord their God. They ·built [set up] ·places to worship gods [L high places; 12:3] in all their cities, from the watchtower to the ·strong, walled [fortified] city. 10 They put up ·stone [sacred] pillars to gods and Asherah ·idols [poles; C a sacred tree or pole dedicated to the goddess Asherah; 13:6; 1 Kin. 14:15] on every high hill and under every ·green [spreading] tree. 11 The Israelites burned incense ·everywhere gods were worshiped [L on all the high places; 12:3], just as the nations who lived there before them had done, whom the Lord had ·forced [driven] out of the land. The Israelites did ·wicked [evil] things that ·made the Lord angry [aroused/provoked the Lord’s anger]. 12 They served idols when the Lord had said, “You must not do this.” 13 The Lord used every prophet and seer to warn Israel and Judah. He said, “·Stop [Turn from] your evil ways and ·obey [keep; observe] my commands and laws. Follow all the ·teachings [law; L torah] that I commanded your ·ancestors [fathers], the ·teachings [law; L torah] that I gave you through my servants the prophets.”
14 But the people would not listen. They were ·stubborn [L stiff-necked], just as their ·ancestors [fathers] had been who did not ·believe [trust; have faith] in the Lord their God. 15 They rejected the Lord’s laws and the ·agreement [covenant; treaty] he had ·made [L cut] with their ·ancestors [fathers]. And they refused to listen to his warnings [Deut. 12:30–31]. They worshiped ·useless [worthless; futile; vain] idols and became ·useless [worthless; futile; vain] themselves [1 Sam. 12:21]. They did what the nations around them did, which the Lord had ·warned [commanded; ordered] them not to do [Lev. 18:3, 24–28].
16 The people ·rejected [forsook] all the commands of the Lord their God. They molded ·statues [cast images] of two calves [1 Kin. 12:28–30], and they made an Asherah ·idol [pole; C a sacred tree or pole dedicated to the goddess Asherah; 13:6; Deut. 16:21]. They worshiped all the ·stars of the sky [forces/hosts of heaven; Deut. 4:19] and served Baal. 17 They ·made their sons and daughters pass through [sacrificed their sons and daughters in the] fire [16:3; 21:6; Deut. 12:31] and tried to find out the future by magic and witchcraft [1 Sam 15:23]. They always chose to do ·what the Lord said was wrong [evil in the eyes/sight of the Lord], which ·made him angry [aroused/provoked him to anger]. 18 Because he was very angry with the people of Israel, he removed them from his ·presence [sight]. Only the tribe of Judah was left.
29 “·How terrible for [L Woe to] you, ·teachers of the law [scribes] and Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets, and you ·show honor to [decorate; adorn] the graves of ·those who lived good lives [L the righteous]. 30 You say, ‘If we had lived during the time of our ancestors, we would not have ·helped them kill [L been partners in the blood of] the prophets.’ 31 But you ·give proof [L testify against yourselves] that you are ·descendants [sons; children] of those who murdered the prophets. 32 ·And you will complete the sin that your ancestors started [or Go ahead and finish what your fathers started!; L Fill up the measure of your fathers].
33 “You ·are snakes [serpents]! A ·family of poisonous snakes [T brood/offspring of vipers]! How are you going to escape ·God’s judgment [the sentence/judgment/damnation of hell/Gehenna; 5:22]? 34 ·So I tell you this [For this reason]: I am sending to you prophets and wise men and ·teachers [scribes; experts in the law]. Some of them you will kill and crucify. Some of them you will ·beat [scourge; flog] in your synagogues and ·chase [hunt; persecute] from town to town. 35 So ·you will be guilty for [L upon you will come] ·the death of all the good people who have been killed on earth [L all the righteous blood shed on the earth]—from the ·murder [L blood] of that ·good [righteous] man Abel to the murder of Zechariah son of Berakiah, whom you murdered between the ·Temple [sanctuary] and the altar [C in the book order of the Hebrew Old Testament, Abel (Gen. 4:8) and Zechariah (2 Chr. 24:21) were the first and last men to be murdered]. 36 I tell you the truth, all of these things will happen to ·you people who are living now [L this generation].
Jesus Grieves for Jerusalem(A)
37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You kill the prophets and stone to death those who are sent to you. ·Many times [How often] I wanted to gather your ·people [L children] as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you ·did not let me [refused]. 38 ·Now [L Look; T Behold] your house ·will be [L is] left ·completely empty [abandoned; deserted; desolate; Jer. 22:5]. 39 [L For] I tell you, you will not see me again until that time when you will say, ‘·God bless [L Blessed is] the One who comes in the name of the Lord [Ps. 118:26].’”
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