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)
18 “But even in those days”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“I will not finish you off.(A) 19 When people ask, ‘For what offense has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ You will respond to them: Just as you abandoned Me(B) and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.(C)
20 “Declare this in the house of Jacob; proclaim it in Judah, saying:
21 Hear this,
you foolish and senseless[a] people.(D)
They have eyes, but they don’t see.
They have ears, but they don’t hear.(E)
22 Do you not fear Me?
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Do you not tremble before Me,
the One who set the sand as the boundary of the sea,
an enduring barrier that it cannot cross?(F)
The waves surge, but they cannot prevail.
They roar but cannot pass over it.
23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts.(G)
They have turned aside and have gone away.
24 They have not said to themselves,
‘Let’s fear the Lord our God,(H)
who gives the rain,(I) both early and late,(J) in its season,(K)
who guarantees to us the fixed weeks of the harvest.’
25 Your guilty acts have diverted these things from you.
Your sins have withheld My bounty from you,(L)
26 for wicked men live among My people.
They watch like fowlers lying in wait.[b](M)
They set a trap;(N)
they catch men.
27 Like a cage full of birds,
so their houses are full of deceit.(O)
Therefore they have grown powerful and rich.
28 They have become fat(P) and sleek.
They have also excelled in evil matters.
They have not taken up cases,
such as the case of the fatherless, so they might prosper,
and they have not defended the rights of the needy.(Q)
29 Should I not punish them for these things?
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Should I not avenge Myself(R)
on such a nation as this?
Reception and Opposition to the Message
13 This is why we constantly thank God, because when you received the message about God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is,(A) the message of God,(B) which also works effectively in you believers. 14 For you, brothers, became imitators of God’s churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea,(C) since you have also suffered(D) the same things from people of your own country,(E) just as they did from the Jews 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus(F) and the prophets and persecuted us;(G) they displease God and are hostile to everyone, 16 hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. As a result, they are always completing the number of their sins,(H) and wrath has overtaken them at last.[a]
Paul’s Desire to See Them
17 But as for us, brothers, after we were forced to leave you for a short time (in person, not in heart(I)), we greatly desired and made every effort to return(J) and see you face to face. 18 So we wanted to come to you—even I, Paul, time and again—but Satan(K) hindered us. 19 For who is our hope or joy(L) or crown(M) of boasting(N) in the presence of our Lord(O) Jesus at His coming?(P) Is it not you?(Q) 20 For you are our glory(R) and joy!
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