Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 54

Prayer for Deliverance

For the choir director: with stringed instruments. A Davidic Maskil. When the Ziphites went and said to Saul, “Is David not hiding among us?”^(A)

⁵ Then the king of Assyria invaded the whole land, marched up to Samaria, and besieged it for three years.^(A)

The Fall of Samaria

⁶ In the ninth year of Hoshea,^(B) the king of Assyria captured Samaria. He deported^(C) the Israelites to Assyria and settled them in Halah and by the Habor, Gozan’s river, and in the cities of the Medes.^(D)

Why Israel Fell

⁷ This disaster happened because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God who had brought them out of the land of Egypt from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt^(E) and because they had worshiped^[a] other gods.^{(F) 8} They had lived according to the customs of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites^(G) and the customs the kings of Israel had introduced.^{(H) 9} The Israelites secretly did what was not right^[b] against the Lord their God. They built high places in all their towns from watchtower^(I) to fortified city. ¹⁰ They set up for themselves sacred pillars^(J) and Asherah poles^(K) on every high hill and under every green tree.^{(L) 11} They burned incense on all the high places just like those nations that the Lord had driven out before them. They did evil things, provoking the Lord. ¹² They served idols, although the Lord had told them, “You must not do this.”^{(M) 13} Still, the Lord warned^(N) Israel and Judah through every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep My commands and statutes according to all the law I commanded your ancestors and sent to you through My servants the prophets.”^(O)

¹⁴ But they would not listen. Instead they became obstinate like^[c] their ancestors who did not believe the Lord their God.^{(P) 15} They rejected His statutes and His covenant He had made with their ancestors^(Q) and the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and became worthless themselves,^(R) following the surrounding nations the Lord had commanded them not to imitate.^(S)

¹⁶ They abandoned all the commands of the Lord their God. They made cast images^(T) for themselves, two calves, and an Asherah pole.^(U) They worshiped the whole heavenly host^(V) and served Baal.^{(W) 17} They made their sons and daughters pass through the fire^(X) and practiced divination and interpreted omens.^(Y) They devoted themselves to do what was evil in the Lord’s sight and provoked Him.^(Z)

¹⁸ Therefore, the Lord was very angry with Israel, and He removed them from His presence.^(AA) Only the tribe of Judah remained.^(AB)

²⁹ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, ³⁰ and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we wouldn’t have taken part with them in shedding the prophets’ blood.’^{[a] 31} You, therefore, testify against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ sins!^[b](A)

³³ “Snakes! Brood of vipers! How can you escape being condemned to hell?^{[c](B) 34} This is why I am sending you prophets,^(C) sages, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues^(D) and hound from town to town. ³⁵ So all the righteous blood shed on the earth will be charged to you,^[d] from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah,^(E) son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.^{(F) 36} I assure you: All these things will come on this generation!^(G)

Jesus’ Lamentation over Jerusalem

³⁷ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem!^(H) She who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks^[e] under her wings, yet you were not willing!^{(I) 38} See, your house is left to you desolate.^{(J) 39} For I tell you, you will never see Me again until you say, ‘He who comes in the name of the Lord is the blessed One’!”^(K)[f]