Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 5

To the Chief Musician; on wind instruments. A Psalm of David.

¹ Listen to my words, O Lord, give heed to my sighing and groaning.

² Hear the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to You do I pray.

³ In the morning You hear my voice, O Lord; in the morning I prepare [a prayer, a sacrifice] for You and watch and wait [for You to speak to my heart].

⁴ For You are not a God Who takes pleasure in wickedness; neither will the evil [man] so much as dwell [temporarily] with You.

⁵ Boasters can have no standing in Your sight; You abhor all evildoers.

⁶ You will destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors [and rejects] the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

⁷ But as for me, I will enter Your house through the abundance of Your steadfast love and mercy; I will worship toward and at Your holy temple in reverent fear and awe of You.

⁸ Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; make Your way level (straight and right) before my face.

²³ And the servants of the king of Syria said to him, Israel’s gods are gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we. But let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.

²⁴ And do this thing: Remove the kings, each from his place, and put governors in their stead.

²⁵ And muster yourself an army like the army you have lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot. And we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. And he heeded their speech and did so.

²⁶ And at the return of the year, Ben-hadad mustered the Syrians and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel.

²⁷ The Israelites were counted and, all present, went against them. The Israelites encamped before the enemy like two little flocks of lost kids [absolutely everything against them but Almighty God], but the Syrians filled the country.

²⁸ A man of God came and said to the king of Israel, Thus says the Lord: Because the Syrians have said, The Lord is God of the hills but He is not God of the valleys, therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hands, and you shall know and recognize by experience that I am the Lord.^(A)

²⁹ They encamped opposite each other seven days. Then the battle was joined; and the Israelites slew of the Syrians 100,000 foot soldiers in one day.

³⁰ But the rest fled to the city of Aphek, and the wall fell upon 27,000 men who were left. Ben-hadad fled into the city and from chamber to chamber.

³¹ His servants said to him, We have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Let us put sackcloth on our loins and ropes about our necks, and go out to the king of Israel; perhaps he will spare your life.

³² So they girded sackcloth on their loins and put ropes on their necks, and came to the king of Israel and said, Your servant Ben-hadad says, I pray you, let me live. And King [Ahab] said, Is he yet alive? He is my brother.

³³ Now the men took it as an omen and they hastily took it up and said, Yes, your brother Ben-hadad. Then the king said, Go, bring him. Then Ben-hadad came forth to him, and the victorious king caused him to come up into the chariot.

³⁴ Ben-hadad [tempting him] said, The cities which my father took from your father I will restore; and you may maintain bazaars of your own in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria. Then, said Ahab, I will send you away on these terms. So he made a covenant with him and sent him away.

11 I ask then: Has God totally rejected and disowned His people? Of course not! Why, I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin!^(A)

² No, God has not rejected and disowned His people [whose destiny] He had marked out and appointed and foreknown from the beginning. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?^(B)

³ Lord, they have killed Your prophets; they have demolished Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.

⁴ But what is God’s reply to him? I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal!^(C)

⁵ So too at the present time there is a remnant (a small believing minority), selected (chosen) by grace (by God’s unmerited favor and graciousness).

⁶ But if it is by grace (His unmerited favor and graciousness), it is no longer conditioned on works or anything men have done. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace [it would be meaningless].

⁷ What then [shall we conclude]? Israel failed to obtain what it sought [God’s favor by obedience to the Law]. Only the elect (those chosen few) obtained it, while the rest of them became callously indifferent (blinded, hardened, and made insensible to it).

⁸ As it is written, God gave them a spirit (an attitude) of stupor, eyes that should not see and ears that should not hear, [that has continued] down to this very day.^(D)

⁹ And David says, Let their table (their feasting, banqueting) become a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a ^[a]just retribution [^[b]rebounding like a boomerang upon them];^(E)

¹⁰ Let their eyes be darkened (dimmed) so that they cannot see, and make them bend their back [stooping beneath their burden] forever.^(F)