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
1 O Lord, how my foes are multiplying!
Many are rising up against me!
2 Many are saying about my life, Interlude[b]
“There is no salvation for him in God.”
One Protector
3 But you, O Lord, are a shield for me.
You are my glory and the one who lifts up my head.
4 With a loud voice I cry out to the Lord, Interlude
and he answers me from his holy mountain.
Peaceful Rest
5 I lie down, and I sleep.
I awake, because the Lord sustains me.
6 I will not be afraid of the thousands of people
who line up against me on all sides.
Certain Victory
7 Rise up, O Lord! Save me, my God!
Yes, you will strike all my enemies on the jaw.
The teeth of the wicked you will break.
8 Salvation belongs to the Lord. Interlude
Your blessing rests on your people.
5 Indeed, wine[a] betrays that arrogant and restless one, because he is as greedy as the grave, and like death he is never satisfied. He gathers all the nations and collects all the peoples to himself.
6 All these people will make up proverbs and mocking poems against him, won’t they? They will say, “Woe to the one who accumulates what is not his. (How long will this last?) Woe to the one who makes himself rich by foreclosing on collateral.” 7 Won’t your creditors rise up suddenly? Won’t those who cause you to tremble wake up? You will become plunder for them. 8 Because you robbed many countries, all those who are left among the nations will rob you. You have shed human blood and committed violence against the land, the cities, and all the people who live in them.
9 Woe to the person who piles up dishonest income for his household, in order to raise his nest up high, to deliver himself from disaster. 10 By wiping out many nations, you have planned shame for your own house. You have sinned against your own life. 11 So the stones in the walls will cry out, and the wooden rafters will answer,
Faith, Love, and Obedience
5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the God who has given birth[a] also loves one who has been born of him. 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep his commands. 3 In fact, this is love for God: that we keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 because everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith. 5 Who is the one who overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
14 This is the confidence that we have before him: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we also know that we receive the things we have asked from him.
16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not result in death, he will ask, and God will give life—to those who commit sin that does not result in death. There is sin that results in death; I am not saying that he should ask about that. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, but there is sin that does not result in death.
18 We know that anyone who has been born of God does not go on sinning. But the one who was born of God protects him,[a] and the Evil One cannot take hold of him. 19 We know that we are from God and that the whole world lies in the grip of the Evil One. 20 We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true, in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
21 Dear children, guard yourselves from idols.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.