Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 50
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 The Mighty One, God, is the Lord;
He has spoken and summoned the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God has shined.
3 Our God will come, and will not keep silent;
a fire consumes before Him,
and a strong tempest is around Him.
4 He calls to the heavens above,
and to the earth, that He may judge His people:
5 “Gather My faithful ones together to Me,
those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”
6 The heavens will declare His righteousness,
for God Himself is judge. Selah
7 “Hear, O My people, and I will speak,
O Israel, and I will testify against you;
I am God, even your God.
8 I will not reprove you for your sacrifices
or for your burnt offerings that are continually before Me.
9 I will take no young bull out of your house,
nor male goats out of your folds.
10 For every wild animal of the forest is Mine,
and the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know every bird of the mountains,
and the creatures that move in the field are Mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
for the world is Mine, and all its fullness.
13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls,
or drink the blood of goats?
14 Sacrifice a thank offering to God,
and pay your vows to the Most High,
15 and call on Me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will glorify Me.”
16 But to the wicked God says:
“What right have you to declare My statutes,
or take My covenant in your mouth?
17 You hate instruction,
and cast My words behind you.
18 When you see a thief, you are pleased,
and have a share in those who commit adultery.
19 You let loose your mouth to evil,
and your tongue is bound to deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your brother;
you accuse your own mother’s son.
21 These things have you done, and I kept silent;
you thought that I was indeed like you;
but I will reprove you
and make a case before your eyes.
22 “Now consider this, you who forget God,
lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver:
23 Whoever sacrifices a thank offering
glorifies Me and makes a way;
I will show him the salvation of God.”
12 For I know your transgressions are many
and your sins are grievous,
you who oppress the just,
who take a bribe and subvert the needy at the gate.
13 Therefore the prudent are silent at such a time,
for it is an evil time.
14 Seek good and not evil,
so that you may live;
then the Lord, the God of Hosts, will truly be with you,
as you claim.
15 Hate evil and love good,
and establish justice at the gate.
It may then be that the Lord God of Hosts will be gracious
to the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Hosts, the Lord:
Wailing will be in all the squares,
and in all the streets they will say, “Alas! Alas!”
They shall call the farmer to mourning,
and to wailing those skilled in lamentation.
17 In all vineyards there shall be wailing,
for I will pass through you,
says the Lord.
The Day of the Lord Is Darkness
18 Woe to you that desire
the day of the Lord!
Why do you want the day of the Lord?
It is darkness, and not light,
19 as if someone fled away from a lion,
but a bear attacked him,
or got into the house
and rested his hand on the wall,
but a snake bit him.
20 Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light?
Will it not be deep darkness, with no brightness in it?
21 I hate, I despise your festivals,
and I am not pleased by your solemn assemblies.
22 Though you offer Me burnt offerings or your grain offerings,
I will not accept them,
nor will I regard the offerings
of your fattened animals.
23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
24 But let justice roll down like water,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
The Parable of the Ten Pounds(A)
11 As they heard these things, He continued and told them a parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would immediately appear. 12 Therefore He said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom and to return. 13 So he called his ten servants and entrusted to them ten pounds[a] and said to them, ‘Trade until I come.’
14 “But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’
15 “When he returned, having received the kingdom, he summoned these servants, to whom he had entrusted the money, that he might know what everyone gained by trading.
16 “The first came, saying, ‘Master, your pound has made ten pounds more.’
17 “He said to him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in very little, take authority over ten cities.’
18 “The second came, saying, ‘Master, your pound has made five pounds more.’
19 “He said in like manner to him, ‘You, take authority over five cities.’
20 “Then another came, saying, ‘Master, look, here is your pound, which I have kept put away in a napkin. 21 For I feared you, because you are an exacting man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’
22 “He said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth will I judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an exacting man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. 23 Why then did you not deposit my money in the bank, so that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’
24 “Then he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the pound from him and give it to him who has ten pounds.’
25 “They said to him, ‘Master, he has ten pounds.’
26 “ ‘I tell you that to everyone who has will be given. But from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away from him. 27 But as for those enemies of mine, who would not let me reign over them, bring them here and slay them before me.’ ”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.