Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 3

How Many Are My Foes, But You Are My Shield

Heading

A psalm by David. When he fled from Absalom,^[a] his son.

Many Enemies

One Protector

Peaceful Rest

Certain Victory

The Lord Answers

⁵ Look at the nations and pay attention! Be completely dumbfounded, because I will do something in your lifetime that you will not believe, even though you are warned ahead of time. ⁶ Watch, I am raising up the Chaldeans,^[a] that savage, reckless nation. They will sweep across the whole width of the earth, seizing lands and homes that do not belong to them. ⁷ They are frightening and terrifying. They invent their own standard of justice and their own values. ⁸ Their horses are quicker than leopards and fiercer than wolves that prowl at night. Their war horses come galloping. Their war horses come from far away. They fly like vultures^[b] swooping down to devour. ⁹ All of them come to commit violence. Their hordes blow by like the desert wind^[c] and sweep up prisoners like sand. ¹⁰ They mock kings, and rulers are subjected to scorn. They laugh at every fortified city. They heap up siege ramps and capture cities. ¹¹ But then the wind blows and passes over them,^[d] and they will bear their guilt—these men whose own strength is their god.

Habakkuk Replies

Patient Endurance, Wisdom, Prayer, and Faith

² Consider it complete joy, my brothers,^[a] whenever you fall into various kinds of trials, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces patient endurance. ⁴ And let patient endurance finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

⁵ If any one of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives it to all without reservation and without finding fault, and it will be given to him. ⁶ But let him ask in faith, without doubting, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷ In fact, that person should not expect that he will receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Rich and Poor

⁹ Let the brother of humble circumstances boast in his high position, ¹⁰ and the rich one in his humble position, because he will pass away like a flower of the grass. ¹¹ Indeed, the sun rises with burning heat and dries up the grass. Its blossom falls off, and its beauty perishes. In the same way also, the rich person will wither away in his busy pursuits.