Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Morning Prayer for Protection
For the director of music. For flutes. A psalm of David.
5 Lord, ·listen [L give ear] to my words.
Understand my ·sadness [L moans; sighs].
2 ·Listen [Pay attention] to my cry for help, my King and my God,
because I pray to you.
3 Lord, every morning you hear my voice.
Every morning, I ·tell you what I need [or prepare a sacrifice for you; L stretch out/arrange before you],
and I ·wait for your answer [L watch].
4 You are not a God who ·is pleased with the wicked [takes delight in evil];
·you do not live with those who do evil [L evil does not sojourn with you].
5 Those people who ·make fun of you [or boast] cannot stand before ·you [L your eyes].
You hate all those who do evil.
6 You destroy ·liars [L those who speak lies];
the Lord ·hates [despises] those ·who kill and trick others [L with bloodguilt and deceit].
7 Because of your great ·love [loyalty; covenant love],
I ·can [or will] come into your ·Temple [L house].
Because I ·fear you [hold you in awe],
I can ·worship [bow down] ·in [or toward] your holy Temple.
8 Lord, since I have many enemies,
·show me the right thing to do [L lead/guide me in your righteousness].
·Show me clearly how you want me to live [L Make your way straight before me].
9 My enemies’ mouths do not tell the truth;
·in their hearts they want to destroy others [L their innards are destruction].
Their throats are like open graves [Rom. 3:13];
they use their tongues for ·telling lies [flattery].
10 God, ·declare them guilty [L make them bear their iniquity]!
Let them fall ·into their own traps [or by their own advice].
·Send [Cast] them away because their ·sins [transgressions] are many;
they have ·turned [rebelled] against you.
11 But let everyone who ·trusts [finds refuge in] you ·be happy [rejoice];
let them sing glad songs forever.
·Protect [L Spread your protection on] those who love you
and ·who are happy because of you [L let those who love your name rejoice in you].
12 Lord, you bless those who ·do what is right [are righteous];
you ·protect them [L surround them with favor] like a shield.
18 “Yet even ·then [L in those days],” says the Lord, “I will not ·destroy you completely [L make a complete end; v. 10; 4:27]. 19 When the people [C of Judah] ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us [C his acts of judgment]?’ then give them this answer: ‘You have ·left [abandoned; forsaken] the Lord and served foreign gods [C idols] in your own land. So now you will serve ·foreigners [L strangers] in a land that does not belong to you.’
20 “·Announce this message [Proclaim this] to the ·family [L house] of Jacob [C Israel],
and ·tell it to the nation of [L make this heard in] Judah:
21 Hear this message, you foolish people who have no ·sense [L heart].
They have eyes, but they don’t really see.
They have ears, but they don’t really listen [C God’s people are like the idols they worship; Ps. 115:6; 135:17].
22 ·Surely you are afraid of me [L Do you not fear me?],” says the Lord.
“·You should shake with fear [L Do you not tremble…?] in my presence.
I am the one who ·made the beaches [L set sand] to be a border for the sea,
a ·border [limit] the water can never go past.
·The waves may pound the beach [L They may rise and fall], but they can’t win over it.
·They [L The waves] may roar, but they cannot go beyond it.
23 But this people [C of Judah] ·are stubborn and have turned against me [L have a stubborn and rebellious heart].
They have turned aside and gone away from me.
24 They do not say ·to themselves [L in their hearts],
‘We should fear the Lord our God [Prov. 1:7],
who gives us ·autumn [early] and ·spring [late] rains in their seasons,
who ·makes sure we have the harvest at the right time [brings us unfailingly the weeks appointed for harvests].’
25 But your ·evil [iniquities] has kept these [C rain and harvest] away.
Your sins have kept you from enjoying good things.
26 There ·are wicked men [L wicked are found] among my people.
Like ·those who make nets for catching birds [fowlers],
they set their traps to catch people.
27 Like cages full of birds,
their houses are full of ·lies [deceit].
They have become ·powerful [great] and rich.
28 They have grown fat and sleek.
There is no end to the evil things they do.
They do not judge justly.
They won’t plead the case of the orphan [Ex. 22:22–24; Deut. 10:18; 24:17, 19–21; 27:19]
or help the poor be judged fairly [Ex. 22:25–27; 23:6, 11; Deut. 15:11].
29 Shouldn’t I punish them [C the people of Judah] for doing these things?” says the Lord.
“Shouldn’t I ·give a nation such as this the punishment [L get revenge on a nation as] it deserves [v. 9]?
30 “A terrible and shocking thing
has happened in the land [C of Judah]:
31 The prophets ·speak lies [L prophesy falsely; Deut. 18:14–22],
and the priests ·take power [rule] ·into their own hands [or by their hand/control],
and my people love it this way.
But what will you do when the end comes?
13 ·Also [L For this reason], we always thank God because when you ·heard his message [received the message you heard] from us, you accepted it not as ·merely human words [a human message], but for what it truly is—·the word of [a message from] God, which ·works in [transforms] you who believe. 14 [L For] Brothers and sisters, ·your experiences have been like those [or you became imitators] of God’s churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea [C the original church in Jerusalem and others nearby]. You suffered the same things from the people of your own country, as they suffered from the Jews 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets and ·forced us to leave that country [drove us out; or persecuted us]. They do not please God and are ·against [hostile/opposed to] all people. 16 ·They try [or …because they try; or …by trying] to stop us from ·teaching [speaking/preaching to] the Gentiles so they may be saved. By doing this, they are ·increasing [filling/heaping up] their sins to the limit. The ·anger [wrath] of God ·has come to [or has drawn near to; or will overtake] them ·at last [or completely; or until the end (of the age)].
Paul Wants to Visit Them Again
17 Brothers and sisters, though we were ·separated [torn away; orphaned] from you for a short time, ·our thoughts were still with you [physically, not spiritually…; L in face, not in heart…]. We wanted very much to see you and tried hard to do so. 18 We wanted to come to you. I, Paul, tried to come ·more than once [again and again; L both once and twice], but Satan ·stopped [hindered; prevented] us. 19 ·You are [L For who is…?] our hope, our joy, and the crown we will ·take pride in [boast about] when our Lord Jesus Christ comes. 20 Truly you are our glory and our joy.
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