Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
To the Director of music: A Psalm. A song.
A Song of Praise to God
68 God arises,
and his enemies are scattered.
Those who hate him flee from his presence.[a]
2 As smoke is driven away, so you drive them away.
As wax melts in the presence of fire,
so the wicked die in the presence of God.
3 But the righteous rejoice and exult before God;
they are overwhelmed with joy.
4 Sing to God!
Sing praise to his name!
Exalt the one who rides on the clouds.
The Lord is his name.
Be jubilant in his presence.
5 A father to orphans and an advocate for widows
is God in his holy dwelling place.
6 God causes the lonely to dwell in families.[b]
He leads prisoners into prosperity,
but rebels live on parched land.
7 God, when you led out your people,
when you marched through the desert,
8 the land quaked.
Indeed, the heavens poured down rain
from the presence of God,
this God of Sinai,
from the presence of God,
the God of Israel.
9 God, you poured out abundant rain on your inheritance.
When Israel[c] was weary, you sustained her.
10 Your people live[d] there;
you sustain the needy[e] with your goodness, God.
19 Blessed be the Lord who daily carries us.
God is our deliverer.
20 God is for us the God of our deliverance.
The Lord God rescues us from death.
9 “The fatherless are torn from the breast;
the poor are taken away as security for a loan.[a]
10 They wander around naked, without clothes;
hungry, though they carry sheaves of grain.[b]
11 They press oil between the olive groves owned by the wicked;
they suffer from thirst, even while treading the winepress.
12 From the city, dying men groan aloud,
and the wounded cries out for help,
but God charges no one with wrong.
13 “Then there are those who rebel against the light;
they are not acquainted with its ways;
and they don’t stay on its course.[c]
14 The murderer rises at dawn to kill the poor and needy;
at night, he is like a thief.
15 The adulterer watches for twilight,[d]
saying, ‘No eye is watching me’
while he veils his face.
16 They break into houses in the dark;
during the day they remained sealed in.
They don’t know daylight.
17 As a group, deep darkness is their morning time;
fear that lives in darkness is their friend.”
Social Injustice will Be Punished
18 “They remain only a short time on the water’s surface;
their inheritance will be cursed in the land;
no one will work in their vineyards.
19 As drought and heat evaporate melting snow,
that’s what Sheol[e] does with sinners.
20 The womb will forget them.
Maggots will find them to be a delicacy!
They won’t be remembered anymore,
their iniquity will be cut to pieces like firewood.[f]
21 “They prey on the barren woman,
and do no favors for widows.
22 God[g] prolongs the life of the strong by his power,
but they get up in the morning[h] without purpose in life.
23 He gives them security and financial support,
but he watches everything they do.
24 They’re exalted momentarily, but then they are gone;
they are humbled,[i] just like all the others.
They are cut down like heads of corn.
25 If this weren’t so, who can prove that I’m a liar
by showing that there’s nothing to what I’m saying?”
Paul Confronts Cephas in Antioch
11 But when Cephas[a] came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly wrong.[b] 12 Until some men arrived from James, he was in the habit of eating with the gentiles, but after those men[c] came, he withdrew from the gentiles[d] and would not associate with them any longer, because he was afraid of the circumcision party. 13 The other Jews also joined him in this hypocritical behavior, to the extent that even Barnabas was caught up in their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I told Cephas[e] in front of everyone, “Though you are a Jew, you have been living like a gentile and not like a Jew. So how can you insist that the gentiles must live like Jews?”
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