Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Plea for Deliverance from Persecution
For the music director, according to The Lilies. Of David.[a]
69 Save me, O God,
because waters have come up to my neck.[b]
2 I sink in the mud of the deep, and there is no foothold.
I have come to watery depths,
and the torrent floods over me.
3 I am weary with my calling out; my throat is parched.
My eyes are exhausted in my waiting for my God.
13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Yahweh, for a favorable time,
O God, according to the abundance of your loyal love.
Answer me with the faithfulness of your salvation.
14 Deliver me from the mud and do not let me sink.
Let me be delivered from those who hate me
and from the watery depths.
15 Do not let the torrent of waters flood over me,
or the deep swallow me,
or the pit close its mouth over me.
16 Answer me, O Yahweh, because your loyal love is good;
according to your abundant mercies, turn to me,
30 I will praise the name of God in song,
and magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 For Yahweh it will be better than an ox or bull,
horned and hoofed.[a]
32 The afflicted will see and rejoice.
O God seekers, let your heart revive,[b]
33 because Yahweh hears the needy
and does not despise his own who are prisoners.
34 Let heavens and earth praise him,
the seas and all that moves in them,
35 because God will save Zion
and build the cities of Judah,
that they may dwell there and possess it.
36 And the offspring of his servants will inherit it,
and those who love his name will abide in it.
Cain and Abel
4 Now Adam knew[a] Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain. And she said, “I have given birth to a man with the help of Yahweh.” 2 Then she bore[b] his brother Abel. And Abel became a keeper of sheep, and Cain became a tiller of the ground. 3 And in the course of time[c] Cain brought an offering from the fruit of the ground to Yahweh, 4 and Abel also brought an offering from the choicest firstlings of his flock.[d] And Yahweh looked with favor to Abel and to his offering, 5 but to Cain and to his offering he did not look with favor. And Cain became very angry, and his face fell. 6 And Yahweh said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why is your face fallen? 7 If you do well will I not accept you?[e] But if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. And its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”
8 Then[f] Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out into the field.”[g] And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then[h] Yahweh said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 And he said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground. 11 So now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive the blood of your brother from your hand. 12 When you till the ground it shall no longer yield its strength to you.[i] You shall be a wanderer and a fugitive on the earth.” 13 And Cain said to Yahweh, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14 Look, you have driven me out today from the face of the ground, and from your face I must hide. I will be a wanderer and a fugitive on the earth, and it will happen that whoever finds me will kill me.” 15 Then[j] Yahweh said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain will be avenged sevenfold.” Then[k] Yahweh put a sign on Cain so that whoever found him would not kill him. 16 And Cain went out from the presence of Yahweh, and he settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
The Righteous and Impartial Judgment of God
2 Therefore you are without excuse, O man, every one of you who passes judgment. For in that which you pass judgment on someone else, you condemn yourself, for you who are passing judgment are doing the same things. 2 Now we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who do such things. 3 But do you think this, O man who passes judgment on those who do such things, and who does the same things, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you despise the wealth of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who will reward each one according to his works: 7 to those who, by perseverance in good work, seek glory and honor and immortality, eternal life, 8 but to those who act from selfish ambition and who disobey the truth, but who obey unrighteousness, wrath and anger. 9 There will be affliction and distress for every human being[a] who does evil, of the Jew first and of the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God.
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