Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 5
The Refuge of the Righteous
For the choir director: with the flutes. A Davidic psalm.
1 Listen to my words, Lord;
consider my sighing.(A)
2 Pay attention to the sound of my cry,(B)
my King and my God,(C)
for I pray to You.
3 At daybreak,(D) Lord, You hear my voice;
at daybreak I plead my case to You(E) and watch expectantly.
4 For You are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil cannot dwell with You.(F)
5 The boastful cannot stand in Your presence;(G)
You hate all evildoers.(H)
6 You destroy those who tell lies;(I)
the Lord abhors a man of bloodshed and treachery.(J)
7 But I enter Your house
by the abundance of Your faithful love;(K)
I bow down toward Your holy temple
in reverential awe of You.(L)
8 Lord, lead me in Your righteousness(M)
because of my adversaries;[a]
make Your way straight before me.(N)
The Lord Restores His People
10 Ask the Lord for rain
in the season of spring rain.
The Lord makes the rain clouds,
and He will give them showers of rain
and crops in the field for everyone.(A)
2 For the idols speak falsehood,
and the diviners(B) see illusions;
they relate empty dreams
and offer empty comfort.
Therefore the people wander like sheep;
they suffer affliction because there is no shepherd.
3 My anger burns against the shepherds,
so I will punish the leaders.[a]
For the Lord of Hosts has tended His flock,
the house of Judah;
He will make them like His majestic steed in battle.
4 The cornerstone(C) will come from Judah.[b]
The tent peg(D) will come from them
and also the battle bow(E) and every[c] ruler.
Together 5 they will be like warriors in battle
trampling down the mud of the streets.
They will fight because the Lord is with them,
and they will put horsemen to shame.
6 I will strengthen the house of Judah
and deliver the house of Joseph.[d]
I will restore[e] them
because I have compassion on them,
and they will be
as though I had never rejected them.(F)
For I am Yahweh their God,
and I will answer them.
7 Ephraim(G) will be like a warrior,
and their hearts will be glad as if with wine.
Their children will see it and be glad;(H)
their hearts will rejoice in Yahweh.
8 I will whistle(I) and gather them
because I have redeemed(J) them;
they will be as numerous as they once were.
9 Though I sow(K) them among the nations,
they will remember(L) Me in the distant lands;
they and their children will live and return.
10 I will bring them back from the land of Egypt
and gather them from Assyria.
I will bring them to the land of Gilead(M)
and to Lebanon,
but it will not be enough for them.
11 Yahweh[f] will pass through the sea of distress
and strike the waves of the sea;
all the depths of the Nile will dry up.(N)
The pride of Assyria will be brought down,
and the scepter of Egypt will come to an end.
12 I will strengthen(O) them in Yahweh,
and they will march(P) in His name—
this is Yahweh’s declaration.
6 “But whoever causes the downfall of one of these little ones who believe in Me—it would be better for him if a heavy millstone[a] were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea!(A) 7 Woe to the world because of offenses. For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes.(B) 8 If your hand or your foot causes your downfall, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire.(C) 9 And if your eye causes your downfall, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, rather than to have two eyes and be thrown into hellfire
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