Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 75[a]
For the music director, according to the al-tashcheth style;[b] a psalm of Asaph, a song.
75 We give thanks to you, O God. We give thanks.
You reveal your presence;[c]
people tell about your amazing deeds.
2 God says,[d]
“At the appointed times,[e]
I judge[f] fairly.
3 When the earth and all its inhabitants dissolve in fear,[g]
I make its pillars secure.”[h] (Selah)
4 [i] I say to the proud, “Do not be proud,”
and to the wicked, “Do not be so confident of victory.[j]
5 Do not be so certain you have won.[k]
Do not speak with your head held so high.[l]
6 For victory does not come from the east or west,
or from the wilderness.[m]
7 For God is the judge.[n]
He brings one down and exalts another.[o]
8 For the Lord holds in his hand a cup
full of foaming wine mixed with spices,[p]
and pours it out.[q]
Surely all the wicked of the earth
will slurp it up and drink it to its very last drop.”[r]
9 As for me, I will continually tell what you have done;[s]
I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
10 God says,[t]
“I will bring down all the power of the wicked;
the godly will be victorious.”[u]
Jerusalem is Corrupt
3 Beware to the filthy,[a] stained city;
the city filled with oppressors![b]
2 She is disobedient;[c]
she has refused correction.[d]
She does not trust the Lord;
she has not sought the advice of[e] her God.
3 Her princes[f] are as fierce as roaring lions;[g]
her rulers[h] are as hungry as wolves in the desert,[i]
who completely devour their prey by morning.[j]
4 Her prophets are proud;[k]
they are deceitful men.
Her priests have defiled what is holy;[l]
they have broken God’s laws.[m]
5 The just Lord resides[n] within her;
he commits no unjust acts.[o]
Every morning he reveals[p] his justice.
At dawn he appears without fail.[q]
Yet the unjust know no shame.
The Lord’s Judgment will Purify
6 “I destroyed[r] nations;
their walled cities[s] are in ruins.
I turned their streets into ruins;
no one passes through them.
Their cities are desolate;[t]
no one lives there.[u]
7 I thought,[v] ‘Certainly you will respect[w] me!
Now you will accept correction!’
If she had done so, her home[x] would not be destroyed[y]
by all the punishments I have threatened.[z]
But they eagerly sinned
in everything they did.[aa]
8 Therefore you must wait patiently[ab] for me,” says the Lord,
“for the day when I attack and take plunder.[ac]
I have decided[ad] to gather nations together
and assemble kingdoms,
so I can pour out my fury on them—
all my raging anger.
For[ae] the whole earth will be consumed
by my fiery anger.
9 Know for sure that I will then enable
the nations to give me acceptable praise.[af]
All of them will invoke the Lord’s name when they pray,[ag]
and will worship him in unison.[ah]
10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,[ai]
those who pray to me, my dispersed people,[aj]
will bring me tribute.
11 In that day you[ak] will not be ashamed of all your rebelliousness against me,[al]
for then I will remove from your midst those who proudly boast,[am]
and you will never again be arrogant on my holy hill.
12 I will leave in your midst a humble and meek group of people,[an]
and they will find safety in the Lord’s presence.[ao]
13 The Israelites who remain[ap] will not act deceitfully.
They will not lie,
and a deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouths.
Indeed, they will graze peacefully like sheep[aq] and lie down;
no one will terrify them.”
An Appeal from Allegory
21 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not understand the law?[a] 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the[b] slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23 But one, the son by the slave woman, was born by natural descent,[c] while the other, the son by the free woman, was born through the promise. 24 These things may be treated as an allegory,[d] for these women represent two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai bearing children for slavery; this is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar represents Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free,[e] and she is our mother. 27 For it is written:
“Rejoice, O barren woman who does not bear children;[f]
break forth and shout, you who have no birth pains,
because the children of the desolate woman are more numerous
than those of the woman who has a husband.”[g]
28 But you,[h] brothers and sisters,[i] are children of the promise like Isaac. 29 But just as at that time the one born by natural descent[j] persecuted the one born according to the Spirit,[k] so it is now. 30 But what does the scripture say? “Throw out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the son”[l] of the free woman. 31 Therefore, brothers and sisters,[m] we are not children of the slave woman but of the free woman.
Freedom of the Believer
5 For freedom[n] Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke[o] of slavery.
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