Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 74[a]
A well-written song[b] by Asaph.
74 Why, O God, have you permanently rejected us?[c]
Why does your anger burn[d] against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember your people[e] whom you acquired in ancient times,
whom you rescued[f] so they could be your very own nation,[g]
as well as Mount Zion, where you dwell.
3 Hurry[h] to the permanent ruins,
and to all the damage the enemy has done to the temple.[i]
4 Your enemies roar[j] in the middle of your sanctuary;[k]
they set up their battle flags.[l]
5 They invade like lumberjacks
swinging their axes in a thick forest.[m]
6 And now[n] they are tearing down[o] all its engravings[p]
with axes[q] and crowbars.[r]
7 They set your sanctuary on fire;
they desecrate your dwelling place by knocking it to the ground.[s]
8 They say to themselves,[t]
“We will oppress all of them.”[u]
They burn down all the places in the land where people worship God.[v]
9 We do not see any signs of God’s presence;[w]
there are no longer any prophets,[x]
and we have no one to tell us how long this will last.[y]
10 How long, O God, will the adversary hurl insults?
Will the enemy blaspheme your name forever?
11 Why do you remain inactive?
Intervene and destroy him.[z]
12 But God has been my[aa] king from ancient times,
performing acts of deliverance on the earth.[ab]
13 You destroyed[ac] the sea by your strength;
you shattered the heads of the sea monster[ad] in the water.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;[ae]
you fed[af] him to the people who live along the coast.[ag]
15 You broke open the spring and the stream;[ah]
you dried up perpetually flowing rivers.[ai]
16 You established the cycle of day and night;[aj]
you put the moon[ak] and sun in place.[al]
17 You set up all the boundaries[am] of the earth;
you created the cycle of summer and winter.[an]
18 Remember how[ao] the enemy hurls insults, O Lord,[ap]
and how a foolish nation blasphemes your name.
19 Do not hand the life of your dove[aq] over to a wild animal.
Do not continue to disregard[ar] the lives of your oppressed people.
20 Remember your covenant promises,[as]
for the dark regions of the earth are full of places where violence rules.[at]
21 Do not let the afflicted be turned back in shame.
Let the oppressed and poor praise your name.[au]
22 Rise up, O God. Defend your honor.[av]
Remember how fools insult you all day long.[aw]
23 Do not disregard[ax] what your enemies say,[ay]
or the unceasing shouts of those who defy you.[az]
16 O Lord, in distress they looked for you;
they uttered incantations because of your discipline.[a]
17 As when a pregnant woman gets ready to deliver
and strains and cries out because of her labor pains,
so were we because of you, O Lord.
18 We were pregnant, we strained,
we gave birth, as it were, to wind.[b]
We cannot produce deliverance on the earth;
no people are born to populate the world.[c]
19 [d] Your dead will come back to life;
your corpses will rise up.
Wake up and shout joyfully, you who live in the ground![e]
For you will grow like plants drenched with the morning dew,[f]
and the earth will bring forth its dead spirits.[g]
20 Go, my people! Enter your inner rooms!
Close your doors behind you!
Hide for a little while,
until his angry judgment is over.[h]
21 For look, the Lord is coming out of the place where he lives,[i]
to punish the sin of those who live on the earth.
The earth will display the blood shed on it;
it will no longer cover up its slain.[j]
27 At that time[k] the Lord will punish
with his destructive,[l] great, and powerful sword
Leviathan the fast-moving[m] serpent,
Leviathan the squirming serpent;
he will kill the sea monster.[n]
Jesus and Beelzebul
14 Now[a] he was casting out a demon that was mute.[b] When[c] the demon had gone out, the man who had been mute began to speak,[d] and the crowds were amazed. 15 But some of them said, “By the power of Beelzebul,[e] the ruler[f] of demons, he casts out demons!” 16 Others, to test[g] him,[h] began asking for[i] a sign[j] from heaven. 17 But Jesus,[k] realizing their thoughts, said to them,[l] “Every kingdom divided against itself is destroyed,[m] and a divided household falls.[n] 18 So[o] if[p] Satan too is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? I ask you this because[q] you claim that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. 19 Now if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons[r] cast them[s] out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20 But if I cast out demons by the finger[t] of God, then the kingdom of God[u] has already overtaken[v] you. 21 When a strong man,[w] fully armed, guards his own palace,[x] his possessions are safe.[y] 22 But[z] when a stronger man[aa] attacks[ab] and conquers him, he takes away the first man’s[ac] armor on which the man relied[ad] and divides up[ae] his plunder.[af] 23 Whoever is not with me is against me,[ag] and whoever does not gather with me scatters.[ah]
Response to Jesus’ Work
24 “When an unclean spirit[ai] goes out of a person,[aj] it passes through waterless places[ak] looking for rest but[al] not finding any. Then[am] it says, ‘I will return to the home I left.’[an] 25 When it returns,[ao] it finds the house[ap] swept clean and put in order.[aq] 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, so[ar] the last state of that person[as] is worse than the first.”[at]
27 As[au] he said these things, a woman in the crowd spoke out[av] to him, “Blessed is the womb[aw] that bore you and the breasts at which you nursed!”[ax] 28 But he replied,[ay] “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey[az] it!”
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.