Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 54

To the Chief Musician; with stringed instruments. A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem, of David, when the Ziphites went and told Saul, David is hiding among us.

¹ Save me, O God, by Your name; judge and vindicate me by Your mighty strength and power.

² Hear my pleading and my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth.

³ For strangers and insolent men are rising up against me, and violent men and ruthless ones seek and demand my life; they do not set God before them. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁴ Behold, God is my helper and ally; the Lord is my upholder and is with them who uphold my life.

⁵ He will pay back evil to my enemies; in Your faithfulness [Lord] put an end to them.

⁶ With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to You; I will give thanks and praise Your name, O Lord, for it is good.

⁷ For He has delivered me out of every trouble, and my eye has looked [in triumph] on my enemies.

²⁴ But Zedekiah son of Chenaanah went near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, Which way went the Spirit of the Lord from me to speak to you?

²⁵ Micaiah said, Behold, you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide yourself.

²⁶ [Ahab] king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, carry him back to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king’s son,

²⁷ And say, The king says, Put this fellow in prison and feed him with bread and water of affliction until I come in peace.

²⁸ Micaiah said, If you return at all in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me. He [added], Hear, O people, every one of you!

²⁹ So [Ahab] king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead.

³⁰ And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself and enter the battle, but you put on your [royal] clothing. And the king of Israel disguised himself and went into the battle.

³¹ But the king of Syria had commanded the thirty-two captains of his chariots, Fight neither with small nor great, but only with [Ahab] king of Israel.

³² And when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, Surely it is the king of Israel. They turned to fight against him, but Jehoshaphat cried out.

³³ And when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him.

³⁴ But a certain man drew a bow at a venture and smote [Ahab] the king of Israel between the joints of the armor. So he said to the driver of his chariot, Turn around and carry me out of the army, for I am wounded.

³⁵ The battle increased that day, and [Ahab] the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Syrians, and at nightfall he died. And the blood of his wound flowed onto the floor of the chariot.

³⁶ And there went a cry throughout the army about sundown, saying, Every man to his city and his own country,

³⁷ For the king is dead! And [Ahab] was brought to Samaria, where they buried him.

³⁸ And they washed [his] chariot by the pool of Samaria, where the harlots bathed, and the dogs licked up his blood, as the Lord had predicted.^(A)

³⁹ The rest of Ahab’s acts, all he did, the ivory palace and all the cities he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

⁴⁰ So Ahab slept with his fathers. Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.

²⁵ Lest you be self-opinionated (wise in your own conceits), I do not want you to miss this hidden truth and mystery, brethren: a hardening (insensibility) has [temporarily] befallen a part of Israel [to last] until the ^[a]full number of the ingathering of the Gentiles has come in,

²⁶ And so all Israel will be saved. As it is written, The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will banish ungodliness from Jacob.^(A)

²⁷ And this will be My covenant (My agreement) with them when I shall take away their sins.^(B)

²⁸ From the point of view of the Gospel (good news), they [the Jews, at present] are enemies [of God], which is for your advantage and benefit. But from the point of view of God’s choice (of election, of divine selection), they are still the beloved (dear to Him) for the sake of their forefathers.

²⁹ For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable. [He never withdraws them when once they are given, and He does not change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call.]

³⁰ Just as you were once disobedient and rebellious toward God but now have obtained [His] mercy, through their disobedience,

³¹ So they also now are being disobedient [when you are receiving mercy], that they in turn may one day, through the mercy you are enjoying, also receive mercy [that they may share the mercy which has been shown to you—through you as messengers of the Gospel to them].

³² For God has consigned (penned up) all men to disobedience, only that He may have mercy on them all [alike].