Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 68
God’s Majestic Power
For the choir director. A psalm of David. A song.
1 God arises. His enemies scatter,
and those who hate him flee from his presence.(A)
2 As smoke is blown away,
so you blow them away.
As wax melts before the fire,
so the wicked are destroyed before God.(B)
3 But the righteous are glad;
they rejoice before God and celebrate with joy.(C)
4 Sing to God! Sing praises to his name.
Exalt him who rides on the clouds[a]—
his name is the Lord[b]—and celebrate before him.(D)
5 God in his holy dwelling is
a father of the fatherless
and a champion of widows.(E)
6 God provides homes for those who are deserted.
He leads out the prisoners to prosperity,[c]
but the rebellious live in a scorched land.(F)
7 God, when you went out before your people,
when you marched through the desert,Selah
8 the earth trembled and the skies poured rain
before God, the God of Sinai,[d]
before God, the God of Israel.(G)
9 You, God, showered abundant rain;
you revived your inheritance when it languished.(H)
10 Your people settled in it;
God, you provided for the poor by your goodness.(I)
9 The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast;
the nursing child of the poor is seized as collateral.[a]
10 Without clothing, they wander about naked.
They carry sheaves but go hungry.(A)
11 They crush olives in their presses;[b]
they tread the winepresses, but go thirsty.
12 From the city, men[c] groan;
the mortally wounded cry for help,
yet God pays no attention to this crime.(B)
13 The wicked are those who rebel against the light.
They do not recognize its ways
or stay on its paths.
14 The murderer rises at dawn
to kill the poor and needy,
and by night he becomes a thief.
15 The adulterer’s eye watches for twilight,
thinking, “No eye will see me,”
and he covers his face.
16 In the dark they break[d] into houses;
by day they lock themselves in,[e]
never experiencing the light.
17 For the morning is like darkness to them.
Surely they are familiar with the terrors of darkness!
18 They float[f] on the surface of the water.
Their section of the land is cursed,
so that they never go to their vineyards.
19 As dry ground and heat snatch away the melted snow,
so Sheol(C) steals those who have sinned.
20 The womb forgets them;
worms feed on them;
they are remembered(D) no more.
So injustice is broken like a tree.
21 They prey on[g] the childless woman who is unable to conceive,
and do not deal kindly with the widow.
22 Yet God drags away[h] the mighty by his power;
when he rises up, they have no assurance of life.
23 He gives them a sense of security, so they can rely on it,(E)
but his eyes(F) watch over their ways.
24 They are exalted for a moment, then gone;
they are brought low and shrivel up like everything else.[i]
They wither like heads of grain.(G)
25 If this is not true, then who can prove me a liar(H)
and show that my speech is worthless?
Freedom from the Law
11 But when Cephas[a] came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned.[b] 12 For he regularly ate with the Gentiles before certain men came from James. However, when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision party. 13 Then the rest of the Jews(A) joined his hypocrisy,(B) so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that they were deviating from the truth of the gospel, I told Cephas[c] in front of everyone, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile(C) and not like a Jew,(D) how can you compel Gentiles to live(E) like Jews?” [d]
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