Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
(For the music leader. Use with stringed instruments. A special psalm that David wrote when the people of Ziph went to Saul and said, “David is hiding here with us.”)
Trusting God in Times of Trouble
1 (A) Save me, God, by your power
and prove that I am right.
2 Listen to my prayer
and hear what I say.
3 Cruel strangers have attacked
and want me dead.
Not one of them cares
about you.
4 You will help me, Lord God,
and keep me from falling;
5 you will punish my enemies
for their evil deeds.
Be my faithful friend
and destroy them.
6 I will bring a gift
and offer a sacrifice
to you, Lord.
I will praise your name
because you are good.
7 You have rescued me
from all my troubles,
and my own eyes have seen
my enemies fall.
Samaria Is Destroyed and the Israelites Are Taken to Assyria
5 Shalmaneser invaded Israel and attacked the city of Samaria for three years, 6 before capturing it in the ninth year of Hoshea's rule. The Assyrian king[a] took the Israelites away to Assyria as prisoners. He forced some of them to live in the town of Halah, others to live near the Habor River in the territory of Gozan, and still others to live in towns where the Median people lived.
7 All of this happened because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had rescued them from Egypt, where they had been slaves. They worshiped foreign gods, 8 followed the customs of the nations that the Lord had forced out of Israel, and were just as sinful as the Israelite kings. 9 Even worse, the Israelites tried to hide their sins from the Lord their God. They built their own local shrines everywhere in Israel—from small towns to large, walled cities. 10 (A) They also built stone images of foreign gods and set up sacred poles[b] for the worship of Asherah on every hill and under every shady tree. 11 They offered sacrifices at the shrines,[c] just as the foreign nations had done before the Lord forced them out of Israel. They did sinful things that made the Lord very angry.
12 Even though the Lord had commanded the Israelites not to worship idols,[d] they did it anyway. 13 So the Lord made sure that every prophet warned Israel and Judah with these words: “I, the Lord, command you to stop doing sinful things and start obeying my laws and teachings! I gave them to your ancestors, and I told my servants the prophets to repeat them to you.”
14 But the Israelites would not listen; they were as stubborn as their ancestors who had refused to worship the Lord their God. 15 They ignored the Lord's warnings and commands, and they rejected the solemn agreement he had made with their ancestors. They worshiped worthless idols and became worthless themselves. The Lord had told the Israelites not to do the things that the foreign nations around them were doing, but Israel became just like them.
16 (B) The people of Israel disobeyed all the commands of the Lord their God. They made two gold statues of calves and set up a sacred pole for Asherah; they also worshiped the stars and the god Baal. 17 (C) They used magic and witchcraft and even sacrificed their own children. The Israelites were determined to do whatever the Lord hated. 18 The Lord became so furious with the people of Israel that he allowed them to be carried away as prisoners.
Only the people living in Judah were left,
29 You Pharisees and teachers are nothing but show-offs, and you're in for trouble! You build monuments for the prophets and decorate the tombs of good people. 30 And you claim you would not have taken part with your ancestors in killing the prophets. 31 But you prove you really are the relatives of the ones who killed the prophets. 32 So keep on doing everything they did. 33 (A) You are nothing but snakes and the children of snakes! How can you escape going to hell?
34 I will send to you prophets and wise people and experts in the Law of Moses. You will kill them or nail them to a cross or beat them in your synagogues or chase them from town to town. 35 (B) That's why you will be held guilty for the murder of every good person, beginning with the good man Abel. This also includes Barachiah's son Zechariah,[a] the man you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 I can promise that you people living today will be punished for all these things!
Jesus Loves Jerusalem
(Luke 13.34,35)
37 Jerusalem, Jerusalem! Your people have killed the prophets and have stoned the messengers who were sent to you. I have often wanted to gather your people, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you wouldn't let me. 38 (C) And now your temple will be deserted. 39 (D) You won't see me again until you say,
“Blessed is the one who comes
in the name of the Lord.”
Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society For more information about CEV, visit www.bibles.com and www.cev.bible.