Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 17[a]
Prayer for Rescue from Persecutors
1 A prayer of David.
I
Hear, Lord, my plea for justice;
pay heed to my cry;
Listen to my prayer
from lips without guile.
2 From you let my vindication come;
your eyes see what is right.
3 You have tested my heart,
searched it in the night.(A)
You have tried me by fire,
but find no malice in me.
My mouth has not transgressed
4 as others often do.
As your lips have instructed me,
I have kept from the way of the lawless.
5 My steps have kept to your paths;
my feet have not faltered.(B)
II
6 I call upon you; answer me, O God.
Turn your ear to me; hear my speech.
7 Show your wonderful mercy,
you who deliver with your right arm
those who seek refuge from their foes.
8 [b]Keep me as the apple of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings
9 from the wicked who despoil me.(C)
III
My ravenous enemies press upon me;(D)
10 [c]they close their hearts,
they fill their mouths with proud roaring.
11 Their steps even now encircle me;
they watch closely, keeping low to the ground,
12 Like lions eager for prey,
like a young lion lurking in ambush.
13 Rise, O Lord, confront and cast them down;
rescue my soul from the wicked.
14 Slay them with your sword;
with your hand, Lord, slay them;
snatch them from the world in their prime.
Their bellies are being filled with your friends;
their children are satisfied too,
for they share what is left with their young.
15 I am just—let me see your face;
when I awake, let me be filled with your presence.(E)
Chapter 3
Prophetic Vision: Joshua the High Priest. 1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, while the adversary[a] stood at his right side to accuse him.(A) 2 And the angel of the Lord said to the adversary, “May the Lord rebuke you, O adversary; may the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!(B) Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?”(C)
3 [b]Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clad in filthy garments. 4 Then the angel said to those standing before him, “Remove his filthy garments.”(D) And to him he said, “Look, I have taken your guilt from you,(E) and I am clothing you in stately robes.” 5 Then he said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” And they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with the garments while the angel of the Lord was standing by. 6 Then the angel of the Lord charged Joshua: 7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you walk in my ways and carry out my charge, you will administer my house and watch over my courts;[c] and I will give you access to those standing here.”
Supplementary Oracle. 8 “Hear, O Joshua, high priest! You and your associates who sit before you! For they are signs of things to come I will surely bring my servant the Branch. 9 Look at the stone(G) that I have placed before Joshua. On this one stone with seven facets[e](H) I will engrave its inscription—oracle of the Lord of hosts—and I will take away the guilt of that land in one day. 10 On that day—oracle of the Lord of hosts—you will invite one another under your vines and fig trees.”(I)
Lessons from the Past. 4 [a]For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but condemned them to the chains of Tartarus[b] and handed them over to be kept for judgment;(A) 5 [c]and if he did not spare the ancient world, even though he preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, together with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the godless world;(B) 6 and if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah [to destruction], reducing them to ashes, making them an example for the godless [people] of what is coming;(C) 7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man oppressed by the licentious conduct of unprincipled people 8 (for day after day that righteous man living among them was tormented in his righteous soul at the lawless deeds that he saw and heard), 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the devout from trial and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,(D) 10 and especially those who follow the flesh with its depraved desire and show contempt for lordship.(E)
False Teachers Denounced.[d] Bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to revile glorious beings,[e] 11 [f]whereas angels,(F) despite their superior strength and power, do not bring a reviling judgment against them from the Lord. 12 But these people, like irrational animals born by nature for capture and destruction, revile things that they do not understand, and in their destruction they will also be destroyed,(G) 13 suffering wrong[g] as payment for wrongdoing. Thinking daytime revelry a delight, they are stains and defilements as they revel in their deceits while carousing with you.(H) 14 Their eyes are full of adultery and insatiable for sin. They seduce unstable people, and their hearts are trained in greed. Accursed children! 15 Abandoning the straight road, they have gone astray, following the road of Balaam, the son of Bosor,[h] who loved payment for wrongdoing,(I) 16 but he received a rebuke for his own crime: a mute beast spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.(J)
17 These people are waterless springs and mists driven by a gale; for them the gloom of darkness has been reserved.(K) 18 For, talking empty bombast, they seduce with licentious desires of the flesh those who have barely escaped[i] from people who live in error.(L) 19 They promise them freedom, though they themselves are slaves of corruption, for a person is a slave of whatever overcomes him.(M) 20 For if they, having escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of [our] Lord and savior Jesus Christ, again become entangled and overcome by them, their last condition is worse than their first.(N) 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment handed down[j] to them.(O)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.