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.

⁵ Then the king of Assyria attacked the entire country. He attacked Samaria and blockaded it for three years. ⁶ In Hoshea’s ninth year as king of Israel, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and took the Israelites to Assyria as captives. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor River in Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

⁷ The Israelites sinned against the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt ⌞and rescued them⌟ from the power of Pharaoh (the king of Egypt). They worshiped other gods ⁸ and lived by the customs of the nations that the Lord had forced out of the Israelites’ way. They also did what their kings wanted them to do. ⁹ The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that weren’t right:

They built for themselves illegal places of worship in all of their cities, from the ⌞smallest⌟ watchtower to the ⌞largest⌟ fortified city.

¹⁰ They set up sacred stones and poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah on every high hill and under every large tree.

¹¹ At all the illegal places of worship, they sacrificed in the same way as the nations that the Lord had removed from the land ahead of them.

They did evil things and made the Lord furious.

¹² They served idols, although the Lord had said, “Never do this.”

¹³ The Lord had warned Israel and Judah through every kind of prophet and seer,^[a] “Turn from your evil ways, and obey my commands and decrees as I commanded your ancestors in all my teachings, the commands I sent to you through my servants the prophets.” ¹⁴ But they refused to listen. They became as impossible to deal with as their ancestors who refused to trust the Lord their God. ¹⁵ They rejected his decrees, the promise ^[b] he made to their ancestors, and the warnings he had given them. They went after worthless idols and became as worthless as the idols. They behaved like the nations around them, although the Lord had commanded them not to do that. ¹⁶ They abandoned all the commands of the Lord their God:

They made two calves out of cast metal.

They made a pole dedicated to the goddess Asherah.

They prayed to the entire army of heaven.

They worshiped Baal.

¹⁷ They sacrificed their sons and daughters by burning them alive.

They practiced black magic and cast evil spells.

They sold themselves by doing what the Lord considered evil, and they made him furious.

¹⁸ The Lord became so angry with Israel that he removed them from his sight. Only the tribe of Judah was left.

²⁹ “How horrible it will be for you, experts in Moses’ Teachings and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of those who had God’s approval. ³⁰ Then you say, ‘If we had lived at the time of our ancestors, we would not have helped to murder the prophets.’ ³¹ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Go ahead, finish what your ancestors started!

³³ “You snakes! You poisonous snakes! How can you escape being condemned to hell? ³⁴ I’m sending you prophets, wise men, and teachers of the Scriptures. You will kill and crucify some of them. Others you will whip in your synagogues and persecute from city to city. ³⁵ As a result, you will be held accountable for all the innocent blood of those murdered on earth. This includes the murder of Abel, who had God’s approval, to that of Zechariah, son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶ I can guarantee this truth: The people living now will be held accountable for all these things.

³⁷ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you kill the prophets and stone to death those sent to you! How often I wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings! But you were not willing! ³⁸ Your house will be abandoned, deserted. ³⁹ I can guarantee that you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”