Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer for Help, and Praise for Its Answer.
A Psalm of David.
28 To You, Lord, I call;
My (A)rock, do not be deaf to me,
For if You (B)are silent to me,
I will become like those who (C)go down to the pit.
2 Hear the (D)sound of my pleadings when I cry to You for help,
When I (E)raise my hands (F)toward [a]Your holy (G)sanctuary.
3 (H)Do not drag me away with the wicked
And with those who practice injustice,
Who (I)speak peace with their neighbors,
While evil is in their hearts.
4 Give back to them (J)according to their work and according to the evil of their practices;
Give back to them according to the work of their hands;
Repay them what is due them.
5 Because they (K)do not regard the works of the Lord
Nor the deeds of His hands,
He will tear them down and not build them up.
6 Blessed be the Lord,
Because He (L)has heard the sound of my pleading.
7 The Lord is my (M)strength and my (N)shield;
My heart (O)trusts in Him, and I am helped;
Therefore (P)my heart triumphs,
And with (Q)my song I shall thank Him.
8 The Lord is [b]their (R)strength,
And He is a refuge of (S)salvation to His anointed.
9 (T)Save Your people and bless (U)Your inheritance;
Be their (V)shepherd also, and (W)carry them forever.
29 Now Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; so he (A)tore his garments. 30 He returned to his brothers and said, “(B)The boy is not there; as for me, where am I to go?” 31 So (C)they took Joseph’s tunic, and slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood; 32 and they sent the [a]multicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, “We found this; please [b]examine it to see whether it is your son’s tunic or not.” 33 Then he [c]examined it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. (D)A vicious animal has devoured him; (E)Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!” 34 So Jacob (F)tore his clothes, and put on a sackcloth undergarment over his waist, and mourned for his son many days. 35 Then all his sons and all his daughters got up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, “Surely I will (G)go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him. 36 Meanwhile, the [d]Midianites (H)sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s officer, the captain of the bodyguard.
4 For (A)if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into [a]hell and (B)committed them to [b]pits of darkness, held for judgment; 5 and did not spare (C)the ancient world, but protected (D)Noah, a [c]preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a (E)flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 and if He (F)condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an (G)example [d]of what is coming for the (H)ungodly; 7 and if He (I)rescued righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the (J)perverted conduct of [e](K)unscrupulous people 8 (for by what he saw and heard that (L)righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), 9 (M)then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from [f]a trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the (N)day of judgment, 10 and especially those who [g](O)indulge the flesh in its corrupt passion, and (P)despise [h]authority.
[i]Reckless, (Q)self-centered, they (R)speak abusively of angelic [j]majesties without trembling,
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