Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 126
The Return of the Captives
Heading
A song of the ascents.
The Captives Return
1 When the Lord restored the captives to Zion,[a]
we were like dreamers.
2 Then our mouths were filled with laughter,
and our tongues with shouts of joy.
Then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The Lord has done great things for us.
We are glad.
4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like the dry gulches of the Negev.
5 Those who sow with weeping will reap with joyful shouts.
6 The one who walks along weeping, carrying a bag of seed to sow,
will come back again with joyful shouts, carrying his sheaves.
Against False Prophets
9 Concerning the prophets:
My heart is broken inside me.
All my bones tremble.
I am like a drunken man,
like a man overcome by wine,
because of the Lord,
and because of his holy words.
10 Look, the land is full of adulterers.
Because of the curse, the land mourns.
The pastures in the wilderness are dried up.
Their way of life is evil,
and their use of power is unjust.
11 Both prophet and priest are godless.
I have found their wickedness even in my House,
declares the Lord.
12 Therefore, they will discover that their path
is like slippery places in the darkness.
They will be driven away,
and they will fall there,
because I will bring disaster on them,
the year of their punishment, declares the Lord.
13 Among the prophets of Samaria[a]
I saw something offensive.
They prophesied by Baal
and led my people Israel astray.
14 Now among the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen something horrifying.
They commit adultery and walk in lies.
They strengthen the hands of evildoers,
so that no one turns away from his wickedness.
They have all become like Sodom to me.
The people who live there are like Gomorrah.
15 So this is what the Lord of Armies says concerning the prophets.
Watch, I will feed them wormwood
and give them bitter water to drink,
because from the prophets of Jerusalem
ungodliness has gone out into all the land.
A Priest Forever
7 This Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, is the one who met Abraham as he was returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him,[a] 2 and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything.[b] First, Melchizedek means “king of righteousness,” and then “king of Salem,” which is “king of peace.” 3 He is without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, and resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.
4 Consider how great this man was. Even Abraham, the patriarch, gave him a tenth from the best of the spoils. 5 According to the law, those sons of Levi who received the priesthood have a command to collect a tenth from the people, that is, from their brother Israelites, even though they also came from Abraham’s body. 6 But here the one who was not descended from them collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises. 7 And without any question, it is the lesser who is blessed by the greater.
8 In the one case, those who are mortal collect the tenth; in the other case, the one who collects has testimony in Scripture[c] that he lives. 9 And, through Abraham, even Levi, who collects the tenth, has paid a tenth, so to speak, 10 because he was still in the body of his forefather when Melchizedek met Abraham.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.