Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 68[a]
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm. A song.
1 May God arise,(A) may his enemies be scattered;(B)
may his foes flee(C) before him.
2 May you blow them away like smoke—(D)
as wax melts(E) before the fire,
may the wicked perish(F) before God.
3 But may the righteous be glad
and rejoice(G) before God;
may they be happy and joyful.
4 Sing to God, sing in praise of his name,(H)
extol him who rides on the clouds[b](I);
rejoice before him—his name is the Lord.(J)
5 A father to the fatherless,(K) a defender of widows,(L)
is God in his holy dwelling.(M)
6 God sets the lonely(N) in families,[c](O)
he leads out the prisoners(P) with singing;
but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.(Q)
7 When you, God, went out(R) before your people,
when you marched through the wilderness,[d](S)
8 the earth shook,(T) the heavens poured down rain,(U)
before God, the One of Sinai,(V)
before God, the God of Israel.(W)
9 You gave abundant showers,(X) O God;
you refreshed your weary inheritance.
10 Your people settled in it,
and from your bounty,(Y) God, you provided(Z) for the poor.
9 The fatherless(A) child is snatched(B) from the breast;
the infant of the poor is seized(C) for a debt.(D)
10 Lacking clothes, they go about naked;(E)
they carry the sheaves,(F) but still go hungry.
11 They crush olives among the terraces[a];
they tread the winepresses,(G) yet suffer thirst.(H)
12 The groans of the dying rise from the city,
and the souls of the wounded cry out for help.(I)
But God charges no one with wrongdoing.(J)
13 “There are those who rebel against the light,(K)
who do not know its ways
or stay in its paths.(L)
14 When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up,
kills(M) the poor and needy,(N)
and in the night steals forth like a thief.(O)
15 The eye of the adulterer(P) watches for dusk;(Q)
he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’(R)
and he keeps his face concealed.
16 In the dark, thieves break into houses,(S)
but by day they shut themselves in;
they want nothing to do with the light.(T)
17 For all of them, midnight is their morning;
they make friends with the terrors(U) of darkness.(V)
18 “Yet they are foam(W) on the surface of the water;(X)
their portion of the land is cursed,(Y)
so that no one goes to the vineyards.(Z)
19 As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow,(AA)
so the grave(AB) snatches away those who have sinned.
20 The womb forgets them,
the worm(AC) feasts on them;(AD)
the wicked are no longer remembered(AE)
but are broken like a tree.(AF)
21 They prey on the barren and childless woman,
and to the widow they show no kindness.(AG)
22 But God drags away the mighty by his power;(AH)
though they become established,(AI) they have no assurance of life.(AJ)
23 He may let them rest in a feeling of security,(AK)
but his eyes(AL) are on their ways.(AM)
24 For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone;(AN)
they are brought low and gathered up like all others;(AO)
they are cut off like heads of grain.(AP)
25 “If this is not so, who can prove me false
and reduce my words to nothing?”(AQ)
Paul Opposes Cephas
11 When Cephas(A) came to Antioch,(B) I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James,(C) he used to eat with the Gentiles.(D) But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.(E) 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas(F) was led astray.
14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel,(G) I said to Cephas(H) in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew.(I) How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?(J)
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