Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
5 (0) For the leader. On wind instruments. A psalm of David:
2 (1) Give ear to my words, Adonai,
consider my inmost thoughts.
3 (2) Listen to my cry for help,
my king and my God, for I pray to you.
4 (3) Adonai, in the morning you will hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my needs before you
and wait expectantly.
5 (4) For you are not a God
who takes pleasure in wickedness;
evil cannot remain with you.
6 (5) Those who brag cannot stand before your eyes,
you hate all who do evil,
7 (6) you destroy those who tell lies,
Adonai detests men of blood and deceivers.
8 (7) But I can enter your house
because of your great grace and love;
I will bow down toward your holy temple
in reverence for you.
9 (8) Lead me, Adonai, in your righteousness
because of those lying in wait for me;
make your way straight before me.
10 (9) For in their mouths there is nothing sincere,
within them are calamities,
their throats are open tombs,
they flatter with their tongues.
11 (10) God, declare them guilty!
Let them fall through their own intrigues,
For their many crimes, throw them down;
since they have rebelled against you.
12 (11) But let all who take refuge in you rejoice,
let them forever shout for joy!
Shelter them; and they will be glad,
those who love your name.
13 (12) For you, Adonai, bless the righteous;
you surround them with favor like a shield.
18 But even in those days,” says Adonai,
“I will not completely destroy you.
19 And when your people ask, ‘Why has Adonai
our God done all these things to us?’
you are to give them this answer:
‘Just as you abandoned me
and served strange gods in your own land,
so likewise you will serve strangers
in a land that is not your own.’
20 Announce this in the house of Ya‘akov,
proclaim it in Y’hudah; say:
21 ‘Hear this, stupid, brainless people,
who have eyes but do not see,
who have ears but do not hear:
22 Don’t you fear me? — says Adonai.
Won’t you tremble at my presence?
I made the shore the limit for the sea;
by eternal decree it cannot pass.
Its waves may toss, but to no avail;
although they roar, they cannot cross it.
23 But this people has a rebellious, defiant heart;
they have rebelled and gone!
24 They don’t say to themselves,
“Let’s fear Adonai our God,
who gives the fall and spring rains in season,
who reserves us the weeks assigned for harvest.”
25 Your crimes have overturned nature’s rules,
your sins have kept back good from you.’
26 “For among my people there are wicked men,
who, like fowlers, lie in wait and set traps
to catch their fellow human beings.
27 Their houses are as full of fraud
as a cage full of birds.
They grow rich and great, 28 sleek and bloated;
they excel in acts of wickedness
but do not plead on behalf of the orphan,
thus enabling his cause to succeed;
nor do they judge in favor of the poor.
29 “Should I not punish for this?” asks Adonai.
“Should I not be avenged on a nation like this?
30 A shocking and horrifying thing
has happened in the land:
31 The prophets prophesy lies,
the cohanim obey the prophets,
and my people love it that way.
But what will you do at the end of it all?
13 Another reason we regularly thank God is that when you heard the Word of God from us, you received it not merely as a human word, but as it truly is, God’s Word, which is at work in you believers. 14 For, brothers, you came to be imitators of God’s congregations in Y’hudah that are united with the Messiah Yeshua — you suffered the same things from your countrymen as they did from the Judeans who 15 both killed the Lord Yeshua and the prophets, and chased us out too. They are displeasing God and opposing all mankind 16 by trying to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles, so that they may be delivered. Their object seems to be always to make their sins as bad as possible! But God’s fury will catch up with them in the end.
17 And as for us, brothers, when we were deprived of your company for a short time — in person, but not in thought — we missed you and tried hard to come and see you. 18 We wanted so much to come to you — I, Sha’ul, tried more than once — but the Adversary stopped us. 19 For when our Lord Yeshua returns, what will be our hope, our joy, our crown to boast about? Won’t it be you? 20 Yes, you are our glory and our joy!
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.