Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

54 Written by David at the time the men of Ziph tried to betray him to Saul.

Come with great power,^[a] O God, and save me! Defend me with your might! ² Oh, listen to my prayer. ³ For violent men have risen against me—ruthless men who care nothing for God are seeking my life.

⁴ But God is my helper. He is a friend of mine!^{[b] 5} He will cause the evil deeds of my enemies to boomerang upon them. Do as you promised and put an end to these wicked men, O God. ⁶ Gladly I bring my sacrifices to you; I will praise your name, O Lord, for it is good.

⁷ God has rescued me from all my trouble, and triumphed over my enemies.

⁵ Now the land of Israel was filled with Assyrian troops for three years besieging Samaria, the capital city of Israel. ⁶ Finally, in the ninth year of King Hoshea’s reign, Samaria fell and the people of Israel were exiled to Assyria. They were placed in colonies in the city of Halah and along the banks of the Habor River in Gozan, and among the cities of the Medes.

⁷ This disaster came upon the nation of Israel because the people worshiped other gods, thus sinning against the Lord their God who had brought them safely out of their slavery in Egypt. ⁸ They had followed the evil customs of the nations which the Lord had cast out from before them. ⁹ The people of Israel had also secretly done many things that were wrong, and they had built altars to other gods throughout the land.^{[a] 10} They had placed obelisks and idols at the top of every hill and under every green tree; ¹¹ and they had burned incense to the gods of the very nations which the Lord had cleared out of the land when Israel came in. So the people of Israel had done many evil things, and the Lord was very angry. ¹² Yes, they worshiped idols, despite the Lord’s specific and repeated warnings.

¹³ Again and again the Lord had sent prophets to warn both Israel and Judah to turn from their evil ways; he had warned them to obey his commandments which he had given to their ancestors through these prophets, ¹⁴ but Israel wouldn’t listen. The people were as stubborn as their ancestors and refused to believe in the Lord their God. ¹⁵ They rejected his laws and the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and despised all his warnings. In their foolishness they worshiped heathen idols despite the Lord’s stern warnings. ¹⁶ They defied all the commandments of the Lord their God and made two calves from molten gold. They made detestable, shameful idols and worshiped Baal and the sun, moon, and stars. ¹⁷ They even burned their own sons and daughters to death on the altars of Molech; they consulted fortune-tellers and used magic and sold themselves to evil. So the Lord was very angry. ¹⁸ He swept them from his sight until only the tribe of Judah remained in the land.

^29-30 “Yes, woe to you, Pharisees, and you religious leaders—hypocrites! For you build monuments to the prophets killed by your fathers and lay flowers on the graves of the godly men they destroyed, and say, ‘We certainly would never have acted as our fathers did.’

³¹ “In saying that, you are accusing yourselves of being the sons of wicked men. ³² And you are following in their steps, filling up the full measure of their evil. ³³ Snakes! Sons of vipers! How shall you escape the judgment of hell?

³⁴ “I will send you prophets, and wise men, and inspired writers, and you will kill some by crucifixion, and rip open the backs of others with whips in your synagogues, and hound them from city to city, ³⁵ so that you will become guilty of all the blood of murdered godly men from righteous Abel to Zechariah (son of Barachiah), slain by you in the Temple between the altar and the sanctuary. ³⁶ Yes, all the accumulated judgment of the centuries shall break upon the heads of this very generation.

³⁷ “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones all those God sends to her! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. ³⁸ And now your house is left to you, desolate. ³⁹ For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you are ready to welcome the one sent to you from God.”^[a]