Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Lord Upholds My Life

To the choirmaster: with ^(A)stringed instruments. A Maskil^[a] of David, ^(B)when the Ziphites went and told Saul, “Is not David hiding among us?”

⁵ Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria, and for three years he besieged it.

The Fall of Israel

⁶ In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria ^(A)captured Samaria, ^(B)and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria ^(C)and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of ^(D)Gozan, and in the cities of ^(E)the Medes.

Exile Because of Idolatry

⁷ And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, ^(F)who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods ^8 (G)and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, ^(H)and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced. ⁹ And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, ^(I)from watchtower to fortified city. ¹⁰ They set up for themselves ^(J)pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, ¹¹ and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger, ¹² and they served idols, ^(K)of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this.” ¹³ Yet the Lord ^(L)warned Israel and Judah ^(M)by every prophet ^(N)and every seer, saying, ^(O)“Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”

¹⁴ But they would not listen, ^(P)but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God. ¹⁵ They despised his statutes ^(Q)and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after ^(R)false idols ^(S)and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the ^(T)Lord had commanded them that they should not do like them. ¹⁶ And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves metal images of ^(U)two calves; and they ^(V)made an Asherah and ^(W)worshiped all the host of heaven and served ^(X)Baal. ^17 (Y)And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings^[a] and used ^(Z)divination and ^(AA)omens and ^(AB)sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. ¹⁸ Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but ^(AC)the tribe of Judah only.

^29 (A)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, ³⁰ saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are ^(B)sons of those who murdered the prophets. ^32 (C)Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. ³³ You serpents, ^(D)you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to ^(E)hell? ^34 (F)Therefore ^(G)I send you ^(H)prophets and wise men and ^(I)scribes, ^(J)some of whom you will kill and crucify, and ^(K)some you will ^(L)flog in your synagogues and ^(M)persecute from town to town, ³⁵ so that on you may come all ^(N)the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous ^(O)Abel to the blood of ^(P)Zechariah the son of Barachiah,^[a] whom you murdered between ^(Q)the sanctuary and ^(R)the altar. ³⁶ Truly, I say to you, ^(S)all these things will come upon this generation.

Lament over Jerusalem

^37 (T)“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that ^(U)kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have ^(V)gathered ^(W)your children together ^(X)as a hen gathers her brood ^(Y)under her wings, and ^(Z)you were not willing! ³⁸ See, ^(AA)your house is left to you desolate. ³⁹ For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ^(AB)‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”