Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Child-Like Trust in the Lord

131 O Lord, my heart is not proud. My eyes are not filled with pride. And I do not trouble myself with important things or in things too great for me. ² For sure I have made my soul quiet like a child who no longer nurses while he is with his mother. My soul within me is like a child who no longer nurses. ³ O Israel, hope in the Lord, now and forever.

Help Comes from the Lord, Not Egypt

31 It is bad for those who go down to Egypt for help, and trust in the many horses and war-wagons, and in the much strength of their horsemen. They do not look to the Holy One of Israel or ask the Lord for help. ² Yet He is wise and brings trouble, and does not take back His words. He will go against the house of wrong-doers, and against the helpers of those who sin. ³ The Egyptians are men, and not God. Their horses are flesh and not spirit. The Lord puts out His hand, and the helper and the one who is helped will fall. All of them will be destroyed together.

⁴ For the Lord has said to me, “As the lion or the young lion makes noise over the food he has killed, and when a group of shepherds go against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, or troubled by their noise. In the same way, the Lord of All will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill.” ⁵ Like flying birds, the Lord of All will keep Jerusalem safe. He will keep it safe and bring it out of trouble. He will pass over and save it. ⁶ O sons of Israel, return to Him against Whom you have sinned much. ⁷ For in that day every man will throw away his silver and gold objects of worship, which his sinful hands have made. ⁸ And the Assyrian will fall by a sword that is not of man, a sword that man has had no part of will destroy him. He will run from the sword, and his young men will be made to work hard. ⁹ “His safe place will pass away because of fear. And his rulers will be afraid of the flags lifted up,” says the Lord, Whose fire is in Zion and Whose place of burning is in Jerusalem.

A Nation That Cannot Stand ^(A)

¹⁴ Jesus was putting a demon out of a man who could not speak. When the demon was gone, the man could speak. All the people were surprised and wondered about it. ¹⁵ Some of them said, “He puts out demons through Satan, the king of demons.” ¹⁶ Others tried to trap Jesus. They asked for something special to see from heaven. ¹⁷ But He knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every nation divided into groups that fight each other will be destroyed. Every family divided into groups that fight each other will not stand. ¹⁸ If Satan is divided against himself, how will his nation stand? And yet you say I put out demons through Satan! ¹⁹ If I put out demons through Satan, by whose help do your sons put them out? Your own sons will say if you are guilty or not. ²⁰ But if I put out demons by the power of God, then the holy nation of God has come to you.

²¹ “When a strong man watches his house and is ready to fight, his things are safe. ²² When a stronger man comes along, he wins the fight. He takes away all the things to fight with that the man of the house had put his trust in. Then the stronger man takes anything he wants from the house. ²³ Whoever is not with Me is against Me. Whoever does not gather with Me is sending them everywhere.