Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 74
Plea for Help in Time of National Humiliation
A Maskil of Asaph.
1 O God, why do you cast us off forever?
Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?(A)
2 Remember your congregation, which you acquired long ago,
which you redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage.
Remember Mount Zion, where you came to dwell.(B)
3 Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary.(C)
4 Your foes have roared within your holy place;
they set up their emblems there.(D)
5 At the upper entrance they hacked
the wooden trellis with axes.[a](E)
6 And then, with hatchets and hammers,
they smashed all its carved work.
7 They set your sanctuary on fire;
they desecrated the dwelling place of your name,
bringing it to the ground.(F)
8 They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.(G)
9 We do not see our emblems;
there is no longer any prophet,
and there is no one among us who knows how long.(H)
10 How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?(I)
11 Why do you hold back your hand;
why do you keep your hand in[b] your bosom?(J)
12 Yet God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the earth.(K)
13 You divided the sea by your might;
you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters.(L)
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you gave him as food[c] for the creatures of the wilderness.
15 You cut openings for springs and torrents;
you dried up ever-flowing streams.(M)
16 Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you established the luminaries[d] and the sun.(N)
17 You have fixed all the bounds of the earth;
you made summer and winter.(O)
18 Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and an impious people reviles your name.(P)
19 Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild animals;
do not forget the life of your poor forever.(Q)
20 Have regard for your[e] covenant,
for the dark places of the land are full of the haunts of violence.(R)
21 Do not let the downtrodden be put to shame;
let the poor and needy praise your name.(S)
22 Rise up, O God, plead your cause;
remember how the impious scoff at you all day long.(T)
23 Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
the uproar of your adversaries that goes up continually.(U)
16 O Lord, in distress they sought you;
they poured out a prayer[a]
when your chastening was on them.(A)
17 Like a woman with child
about to give birth
writhes and cries out in her pain,
so were we because of you, O Lord;(B)
18 we were with child; we writhed,
but we gave birth only to wind.
We have won no victories on earth,
and no one is born to inhabit the world.(C)
19 Your dead shall live; their corpses[b] shall rise.
Those who dwell in the dust will awake and shout for joy![c]
For your dew is a radiant dew,
and the earth will give birth to those long dead.[d](D)
20 Come, my people, enter your chambers,
and shut your doors behind you;
hide yourselves for a little while
until the wrath is past.(E)
21 For the Lord comes out from his place
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;
the earth will disclose the blood shed on it
and will no longer cover its slain.(F)
Israel’s Redemption
27 On that day the Lord with his cruel and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.(G)
Jesus and Beelzebul
14 Now he was casting out a demon that was mute; when the demon had gone out, the one who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed.(A) 15 But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” 16 Others, to test him, kept demanding from him a sign from heaven.(B) 17 But he knew what they were thinking and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls.(C) 18 If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?—for you say that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul. 19 Now if I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your exorcists[a] cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20 But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.(D) 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe. 22 But when one stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his plunder. 23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.(E)
The Return of the Unclean Spirit
24 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but not finding any it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 When it returns, it finds it swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first.”(F)
True Blessedness
27 While he was saying this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!”(G) 28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!”(H)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.