Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 68
For the music leader. Of David. A psalm. A song.
68 Let God rise up;
let his enemies scatter;
let those who hate him
run scared before him!
2 Like smoke is driven away,
drive them away!
Like wax melting before fire,
let the wicked perish before God!
3 But let the righteous be glad
and celebrate before God.
Let them rejoice with gladness!
4 Sing to God! Sing praises to his name!
Exalt the one who rides the clouds!
The Lord is his name.
Celebrate before him!
5 Father of orphans and defender of widows
is God in his holy habitation.
6 God settles the lonely in their homes;
he sets prisoners free with happiness,[a]
but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.
7 When you went forth before your people, God,
when you marched through the wasteland, Selah
8 the earth shook!
Yes, heaven poured down
before God, the one from Sinai—
before God, the God of Israel!
9 You showered down abundant rain, God;
when your inheritance grew weary,
you restored it yourself,
10 and your creatures settled in it.
In your goodness, God,
you provided for the poor.
19 Bless the Lord!
The God of our salvation
supports us day after day! Selah
20 Our God is the God of salvation,
and escape from certain death comes through God my Lord.
9 The orphan is stolen from the breast;
the infant[a] of the poor is taken as collateral.
10 The poor go around naked, without clothes,
carry bundles of grain while hungry,
11 crush olives between millstones,[b]
tread winepresses, but remain thirsty.
12 From the city, the dying cry out;
the throat of the mortally wounded screams, but God assigns no blame.
Sinners’ conduct
13 They rebel against light,
don’t acknowledge its direction,
don’t dwell in its paths.
14 The murderer rises at twilight,
kills the poor and needy;
at night, they are like a thief.
15 The adulterer’s eye watches for twilight,
thinking, No eye can see me,
and puts a mask over his face.
16 In the dark they break into houses;
they shut themselves in by day;
they don’t know the light.
17 Deep darkness is morning to them
because they recognize the horror of darkness.
18 They are scum on the water’s surface;
their portion of the land is cursed;
no one walks down a path in the vineyards.
19 Drought and heat steal melted snow,
just as the underworld[c] steals sinners.
20 The womb forgets them;
the worm consumes them;
they aren’t remembered,
and so wickedness is shattered like a tree.
21 They prey on the barren, the childless,
do nothing good for the widow.
22 They drag away the strong by force;
they may get up but without guarantee of survival.
23 They make themselves secure;
they are at ease.
His[d] eyes are on their ways.
24 They are exalted for a short time, but no longer.
They are humbled then gathered in like everyone else;
cut off like heads of grain.
25 If this isn’t so, who can prove me a liar
and make my words disappear?
The Jewish-Gentile controversy
11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was wrong. 12 He had been eating with the Gentiles before certain people came from James. But when they came, he began to back out and separate himself, because he was afraid of the people who promoted circumcision. 13 And the rest of the Jews also joined him in this hypocrisy so that even Barnabas got carried away with them in their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that they weren’t acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of everyone, “If you, though you’re a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you require the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible