Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Prayer for Vindication and Protection
A prayer of David.[a]
17 O Yahweh, hear a just cause.
Hear my cry; heed my prayer
I make without deceitful lips.
2 Let my vindication come forth from you;
let your eyes see fairness.
3 You have tried my heart;
you have examined me by night;
you have tested me; you found nothing.
I have decided that my mouth will not transgress.
4 As for the works of humankind,
by the word of your lips,
I have kept from the ways of the violent.
5 I have held my steps in your path
My feet will not slip.
6 As for me, I have called on you
because you will answer me, O God.
Incline your ear to me.
Hear my words.[b]
7 Show wondrously your acts of loyal love,
O Savior of those who take refuge
at your right hand[c]
from those who rise up against them.
15 By contrast, I in righteousness shall see your face.
Upon awakening I will be satisfied seeing your form.
8 But[a] you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen,
you, the offspring[b] of Abraham my friend,[c]
9 you whom I grasped from the ends of the earth
and called from its remotest parts
and told, “You are my servant;
I have chosen you and I have not rejected you.”
10 You must not fear, for I am with you;
you must not be afraid, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, indeed I will help you,
indeed I will take hold of you with the right hand of my salvation.
6 But it is not as if the word of God had failed. For not all those who are descended from Israel are truly Israel, 7 nor are they all children because they are descendants of Abraham, but “In Isaac will your descendants be named.”[a] 8 That is, it is not the children by human descent[b] who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as descendants. 9 For the statement of the promise is this: “At this time I will return and Sarah will have[c] a son.”[d] 10 And not only this, but also when[e] Rebecca conceived children by one man,[f] Isaac our father— 11 for although they[g] had not yet been born, or done anything good or evil, in order that the purpose of God according to election might remain, 12 not by works but by the one who calls—it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger,”[h] 13 just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”[i]
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