Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
For the choir director; on stringed instruments; a maskil by David when people from the city of Ziph told Saul that David was hiding among them.
54 O God, save me by your name,
and defend me with your might.
2 O God, hear my prayer,
and open your ears to the words from my mouth.
3 Strangers have attacked me.
Ruthless people seek my life.
They do not think about God. Selah
4 God is my helper!
The Lord is the provider for my life.
5 My enemies spy on me.
Pay them back with evil.
Destroy them with your truth!
6 I will make a sacrifice to you along with a freewill offering.
I will give thanks to your good name, O Lord.
7 Your name rescues me from every trouble.
My eyes will gloat over my enemies.
Israel Sins Again
6 The people of Israel did what the Lord considered evil. So the Lord handed them over to Midian for seven years. 2 Midian’s power was too strong for Israel. The Israelites made hiding places in the mountains, caves, and mountain strongholds ⌞to protect themselves⌟ from Midian. 3 Whenever Israel planted crops, Midian, Amalek, and Kedem came and damaged the crops. 4 The enemy used to camp on the land and destroy the crops all the way to Gaza. They left nothing for Israel to live on—not one sheep, cow, or donkey. 5 Like swarms of locusts, they came with their livestock and their tents. They and their camels could not be counted. They came into the land only to ruin it. 6 So the Israelites became very poor because of Midian and cried out to the Lord for help.
7 When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help because of what the Midianites had done to them, 8 the Lord sent a prophet to them. He said, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says:
I brought you out of Egypt.
I took you away from slavery.
9 I rescued you from the power of the Egyptians
and from the power of those who oppressed you.
I forced people out of your way.
I gave you their land.
10 I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God.
You must never fear the gods of the Amorites
in whose land you will live.’
But you have not obeyed me.”
2 Brothers and sisters, when I came to you, I didn’t speak about God’s mystery [a] as if it were some kind of brilliant message or wisdom. 2 While I was with you, I decided to deal with only one subject—Jesus Christ, who was crucified. 3 When I came to you, I was weak. I was afraid and very nervous. 4 I didn’t speak my message with persuasive intellectual arguments. I spoke my message with a show of spiritual power 5 so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom but on God’s power.
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