Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 52
God Judges the Proud
For the choir director. A Maskil of David. When Doeg the Edomite went and reported to Saul, telling him, “David went to Ahimelech’s house.”(A)
1 Why boast about evil, you hero!(B)
God’s faithful love is constant.(C)
2 Like a sharpened razor,
your tongue devises destruction,
working treachery.(D)
3 You love evil instead of good,
lying instead of speaking truthfully.(E)Selah
4 You love any words that destroy,
you treacherous tongue!(F)
5 This is why God will bring you down forever.
He will take you, ripping you out of your tent;
he will uproot you from the land of the living.(G)Selah
6 The righteous will see and fear,
and they will derisively say about that hero,[a](H)
7 “Here is the man
who would not make God his refuge,
but trusted in the abundance of his riches,
taking refuge in his destructive behavior.”(I)
Judgment against Sinful Kings
22 This is what the Lord says: “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and announce this word there. 2 You are to say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David(A)—you, your officers, and your people who enter these gates. 3 This is what the Lord says: Administer justice and righteousness.(B) Rescue the victim of robbery from his oppressor.(C) Don’t exploit or brutalize the resident alien, the fatherless, or the widow.(D) Don’t shed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you conscientiously carry out this word, then kings sitting on David’s throne will enter through the gates of this palace(E) riding on chariots and horses—they, their officers, and their people. 5 But if you do not obey these words, then I swear by myself(F)—this is the Lord’s declaration—that this house will become a ruin.’”(G)
6 For this is what the Lord says concerning the house of the king of Judah:
“You are like Gilead(H) to me,
or the summit of Lebanon,
but I will certainly turn you into a wilderness,
uninhabited cities.
7 I will set apart destroyers(I) against you,
each with his weapons.
They will cut down the choicest of your cedars
and throw them into the fire.
8 “Many nations will pass by this city and ask one another, ‘Why did the Lord do such a thing to this great city?’ 9 They will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant(J) of the Lord their God and bowed in worship to other gods and served them.’”(K)
A Tree and Its Fruit
43 “A good tree doesn’t produce bad fruit; on the other hand, a bad tree doesn’t produce good fruit.[a](A) 44 For each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs aren’t gathered from thornbushes, or grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 A good person produces good out of the good stored up in his heart. An evil person produces evil out of the evil stored up in his heart, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.
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