Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer for Help
For the director of music. A ·maskil [skillful psalm; meditation] of the sons of Korah [C descendants of Kohath, son of Levi, who served as Temple musicians; 1 Chr. 6:22].
44 God, we have heard ·about you [L with our ears; 78:3].
Our ·ancestors [fathers] ·told [recited to] us
what you did in their days,
in days long ago.
2 With your ·power [L hand] you ·forced [dispossessed] the nations out of the land
and ·placed [L planted] our ancestors here.
You ·destroyed [troubled] ·those other nations [L the peoples],
but you ·made our ancestors grow strong [set them free].
3 It wasn’t their swords that ·took [possessed] the land.
It wasn’t their ·power [L arm] that gave them victory.
But it was your ·great power [L arm] and ·strength [L right hand].
·You were with them [L …and the light of your face] because you ·loved [delighted in] them.
4 My God, you are my King.
·Your commands led Jacob’s people to victory [or You command victory for Jacob; C Jacob is another name for Israel].
5 With your help we pushed ·back [down] our enemies.
In your name we trampled those who ·came [rose up] against us.
6 I don’t trust my bow to help me,
and my sword can’t ·save me [give me victory].
7 You ·saved us from [gave us victory over] our foes,
and you made ·our enemies [L those who hate us] ashamed.
8 We will praise God every day;
we will ·praise [give thanks to] your name forever. ·
9 But you have rejected us and ·shamed [humiliated] us.
You don’t ·march [L go out] with our armies anymore [Ex. 15:3; 2 Chr. 20:20–21].
10 You let our enemies push us back,
and those who hate us have ·taken our wealth [plundered us].
11 You ·gave us away [made us] like sheep ·to be eaten [for slaughter]
and have scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold your people for nothing
and made no profit on the sale.
13 You made us a ·joke [reproach] to our neighbors;
those around us ·laugh [ridicule] and make fun of us.
14 You made us a ·joke [byword; proverb] to the other nations;
people shake their heads.
15 I am always in disgrace,
and ·I am [L my face is] covered with shame.
16 My enemy is getting ·even [revenge]
with ·insults [taunts] and curses.
17 All these things have happened to us,
but we have not forgotten you
or ·failed to keep [been false to; betrayed] our ·agreement [covenant; treaty] with you [C perhaps a reference to the covenant with Moses; Ex. 19–24].
18 Our hearts haven’t turned ·away [back] from you,
and ·we haven’t stopped following you [L our steps have not departed from your way].
19 But you crushed us in this place where ·wild dogs [jackals] live [C desolate areas],
and you covered us with ·deep darkness [or the shadow of death; Nah. 1:8].
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
or ·lifted [L spread] our hands in prayer to ·foreign [L strange] gods,
21 ·God would have known [L Would not God discover this…?],
because he knows ·what is in [L the secrets of] our hearts.
22 But for you we are ·in danger of death [L killed] all the time.
People think we are worth no more than sheep to be ·killed [slaughtered; Is. 53:7].
23 Wake up, Lord! Why are you sleeping?
Get up! Don’t reject us forever [Lam. 5:22].
24 Why do you hide your face from us?
Have you forgotten our ·pain [affliction] and ·troubles [oppression]?
25 We have ·been pushed down [sunk down] into the ·dirt [dust];
·we are flat on the ground [L our stomachs cleave to the earth].
26 ·Get [Rise] up and help us.
Because of your ·love [loyalty], ·save [redeem; ransom] us.
11 “Judah, I have ·set [appointed] a harvest time for you
when I will ·make the lives of my people good again [restore the fortunes of my people; or return my people from captivity].
7 When I heal Israel,
Israel’s sin will ·go away [or be revealed/exposed],
and so will Samaria’s evil.
“They ·cheat a lot [practice deceit; commit fraud]!
Thieves ·break into houses [L come in],
and ·robbers [gangs] ·are in the streets [raid/pillage outside].
2 ·It never enters their minds [L They never say in their hearts]
that I remember all their evil deeds.
The bad things they do ·are all around [engulf; surround] them;
they are ·right in front of me [always before my face].
Israel’s Evil Kings
3 “They make the king happy with their wickedness;
their ·rulers [princes] are glad with their lies.
4 But all of them are ·traitors [L adulterers].
They are like an oven heated by a baker.
·While he mixes the dough [L From the kneading of the dough until it is leavened],
he does not need to stir up the fire.
5 The kings get so drunk they get sick ·every day [or on the festival day; L on the day].
The ·rulers [princes] become ·crazy [inflamed] with wine;
they ·make agreements [conspire; L stretch out their hands] with ·those who do not know the true God [mockers; scoffers].
6 Their hearts burn like an oven;
as they plot [C an assassination] against him.
All night long their anger ·is low [smolders],
but when morning comes, it becomes a roaring fire.
7 All ·these people [L of them] are as hot as an oven;
they ·burn up [consume; devour] their rulers.
All their kings fall,
and no one calls on me.
Israel and the Other Nations
8 “·Israel [L Ephraim; 4:17] mixes with other nations;
he is like a ·pancake [cake; flat loaf] ·cooked only on one side [or burned on one side; L not turned].
9 ·Foreign nations [Strangers; Foreigners] have ·eaten up [devoured; sapped] his strength,
but he doesn’t know it.
·Israel is weak and feeble, like an old man [L Grey hair is scattered on him],
but he doesn’t know it.
10 Israel’s ·pride [arrogance] ·will cause their defeat [or testifies against him; L answers in his face];
they will not ·turn back [return] to the Lord their God
or ·look to him for help [L seek him] in all this.
11 Israel has become like a ·pigeon [dove]—
·easy to fool [silly] and ·stupid [senseless].
First they call to Egypt for help.
Then they ·run [turn; go] to Assyria.
12 When they go, I will ·catch them in a net [throw my net over them],
I will bring them down like birds from the sky;
I will ·punish [discipline] them ·countless times for their evil [or when I hear them flocking together; or according to the report given to the congregation].
13 ·How terrible for [L Woe to] them because they ·left [fled/strayed from] me!
They will be destroyed, because they ·turned [rebelled] against me.
I want to ·save [redeem] them,
but they have spoken lies against me.
14 They do not ·call [cry out] to me from their hearts.
They just lie on their beds and ·cry [wail].
They ·come together [assemble themselves; or gash/slash themselves; C a ritual practiced by pagan Canaanite priests (Deut. 14:1; 1 Kin. 18:28; Jer. 16:6)] to ask for grain and new wine,
but they really ·turn away from [rebel against] me.
15 Though I trained them and ·gave them strength [L strengthened their arms],
they have ·made evil plans [plotted evil] against me.
16 They ·did not turn to [or turn, but not to] the Most High God.
They are like a ·loose bow that can’t shoot [faulty bow].
Because ·their leaders brag about their strength [of their indignant/insolent tongue],
they will ·be killed with swords [fall by the sword],
and the people in Egypt
will ·laugh at [ridicule; deride] them.
Love All People(A)
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy [Lev. 19:18].’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies. Pray for those who ·hurt [persecute] you.[a] 45 ·If you do this, […so that] you will be ·true children [L children; or sons] of your Father in heaven. [L For] He causes ·the [L his] sun to rise on evil people and on good people, and he sends rain ·to those who do right and to those who do wrong [L on the just/righteous and the unjust/unrighteous]. 46 [L For] If you love only the people who love you, ·you will get no reward [what reward is there for that?]. ·Even [L Don’t even…?] the tax collectors do that. 47 And if you ·are nice only to your friends [L greet only your brothers; C probably meaning fellow Jews], ·you are no better than other people [L what more are you doing (than others)?]. Even ·those who don’t know God [the Gentiles; pagans] ·are nice to their friends [L do the same]. 48 ·So [Therefore] you must be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
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