Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Prayer for Defense against Enemies.
For the choir director; on stringed instruments. A [a]Maskil of David, [b]when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, “Is not David hiding himself among us?”
54 Save me, O God, by (A)Your name,
And [c]vindicate me by (B)Your power.
2 (C)Hear my prayer, O God;
(D)Give ear to the words of my mouth.
3 For strangers have (E)risen against me
And (F)violent men have (G)sought my [d]life;
They have (H)not set God before them. [e]Selah.
5 Then the king of Assyria invaded the whole land and went up to (A)Samaria and besieged it three years.
Israel Captive
6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, (B)the king of Assyria captured Samaria and (C)carried Israel away into exile to Assyria, and (D)settled them in Halah and Habor, on the river of (E)Gozan, and (F)in the cities of the Medes.
Why Israel Fell
7 Now (G)this came about because the sons of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, (H)who had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, (I)and they had [a]feared other gods 8 and (J)walked in the [b]customs of the nations whom the Lord had driven out before the sons of Israel, and in the customs (K)of the kings of Israel which they had [c]introduced. 9 The sons of Israel [d]did things secretly which were not right against the Lord their God. Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their towns, from (L)watchtower to fortified city. 10 (M)They set for themselves sacred pillars and [e](N)Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, 11 and there they burned incense on all the high places as the nations did which the Lord had carried away to exile before them; and they did evil things provoking the Lord. 12 They served idols, (O)concerning which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.” 13 Yet the (P)Lord warned Israel and Judah (Q)through all His prophets and (R)every seer, saying, “(S)Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you through My servants the prophets.” 14 However, they did not listen, but (T)stiffened their neck [f]like their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God. 15 (U)They rejected His statutes and (V)His covenant which He made with their fathers and His warnings with which He warned them. And (W)they followed vanity and (X)became vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the (Y)Lord had commanded them not to do like them. 16 They forsook all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves molten images, even (Z)two calves, and (AA)made an [g]Asherah and (AB)worshiped all the host of heaven and (AC)served Baal. 17 Then (AD)they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and (AE)practiced divination and enchantments, and (AF)sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him. 18 So the Lord was very angry with Israel and (AG)removed them from His [h]sight; (AH)none was left except the tribe of Judah.
29 “(A)Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves, that you (B)are [a]sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. 33 You serpents, (C)you brood of vipers, how [b]will you escape the [c]sentence of [d](D)hell?
34 “(E)Therefore, behold, (F)I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will (G)scourge in your synagogues, and (H)persecute from city to city, 35 so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous (I)Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the (J)son of Berechiah, whom (K)you murdered between the [e]temple and the altar. 36 Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon (L)this generation.
Lament over Jerusalem
37 “(M)Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who (N)kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, (O)the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. 38 Behold, (P)your house is being left to you desolate! 39 For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘(Q)Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.