Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
God Is My Helper
For the choir director. With stringed instruments. A [a]Maskil of David. [b]When the Ziphites came and said to Saul, “Is not David hiding himself among us?”
54 O God, save me by (A)Your name,
And render justice to me by (B)Your might.
2 (C)O God, hear my prayer;
(D)Give ear to the words of my mouth.
3 For strangers have (E)risen against me
And (F)ruthless men have (G)sought my [c]life;
They have (H)not set God before them. [d]Selah.
5 Then the king of Assyria went up against the whole land and he went up to (A)Samaria and besieged it three years.
Israel Exiled to Assyria
6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, (B)the king of Assyria captured Samaria and (C)took Israel away into exile to Assyria, and (D)settled them in Halah and Habor, on the river of (E)Gozan, and (F)in the cities of the Medes.
Israel Rejects Yahweh
7 Now (G)this happened because the sons of Israel had sinned against Yahweh their God—(H)who had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt—(I)and they had [a]feared other gods 8 and (J)walked in the statutes of the nations whom Yahweh had dispossessed from before the sons of Israel, and in the statutes (K)of the kings of Israel which they had made. 9 And the sons of Israel [b]did things secretly which were not right against Yahweh their God. Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from (L)watchtower to fortified city. 10 (M)And they set for themselves sacred pillars and [c](N)Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, 11 and there they burned incense on all the high places as the nations did which Yahweh had taken away into exile before them; and they did evil things provoking Yahweh to anger. 12 And they served idols, (O)concerning which Yahweh had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.” 13 Yet (P)Yahweh warned Israel and Judah (Q)by the hand of all His prophets and (R)every seer, saying, “(S)Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by the hand of My slaves the prophets.” 14 However, they did not listen, but (T)stiffened their neck [d]like their fathers, who did not believe in Yahweh their God. 15 (U)They also rejected His statutes and (V)His covenant which He cut with their fathers and His warnings with which He warned them. And (W)they followed vanity and (X)became vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which (Y)Yahweh had commanded them not to do like them. 16 And they forsook all the commandments of Yahweh their God and made for themselves molten images, even (Z)two calves, and (AA)made an [e]Asherah and (AB)worshiped all the host of heaven and (AC)served Baal. 17 Then (AD)they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and (AE)practiced divination and omens, and (AF)sold themselves to do what is evil in the sight of Yahweh, provoking Him to anger. 18 So Yahweh was very angry with Israel and (AG)caused them to depart from His [f]presence; (AH)none was left except the tribe of Judah alone.
29 “(A)Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you bear witness against yourselves, that you (B)are [a]sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. 33 You serpents, (C)you brood of vipers, how [b]will you escape the [c]sentence of [d](D)hell?
34 “(E)On account of this, behold, (F)I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will (G)flog in your synagogues, and (H)persecute from city to city, 35 so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous (I)Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the (J)son of Berechiah, whom (K)you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon (L)this generation.
Lament over Jerusalem
37 “(M)Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who (N)kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, (O)the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you did not want it. 38 Behold, (P)your house is being left to you desolate! 39 For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘(Q)Blessed is He who comes in the name of the [e]Lord!’”
Legacy Standard Bible Copyright ©2021 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org For Permission to Quote Information visit https://www.LSBible.org.