Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 83

A song. A Psalm of Asaph.

¹ Keep not silence, O God; hold not Your peace or be still, O God.

² For, behold, Your enemies are in tumult, and those who hate You have raised their heads.^(A)

³ They lay crafty schemes against Your people and consult together against Your hidden and precious ones.

⁴ They have said, Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be in remembrance no more.

⁵ For they have consulted together with one accord and one heart; against You they make a covenant—

⁶ The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, of Moab and the Hagrites,

⁷ Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, the Philistines, with the inhabitants of Tyre.

⁸ Assyria also has joined with them; they have helped the children of Lot [the Ammonites and the Moabites] and have been an arm to them. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁹ Do to them as [You did to] the Midianites, as to Sisera and Jabin at the brook of Kishon,^(B)

¹⁰ Who perished at Endor, who became like manure for the earth.

¹¹ Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, yes, all their princes as Zebah and Zalmunna,^(C)

¹² Who say, Let us take possession for ourselves of the pastures of God.

¹³ O my God, make them like whirling dust, like stubble or chaff before the wind!

¹⁴ As fire consumes the forest, and as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,

¹⁵ So pursue and afflict them with Your tempest and terrify them with Your tornado or hurricane.

¹⁶ Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek, inquire for, and insistently require Your name, O Lord.

¹⁷ Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; yes, let them be put to shame and perish,

¹⁸ That they may know that You, Whose name alone is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.

³¹ Now Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim and went on to the Jordan with the king to conduct him over the Jordan.

³² Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even eighty years old; and he had provided the king with food while he remained at Mahanaim, for he was a very great man.

³³ And the king said to Barzillai, Come over with me, and I will provide for you with me in Jerusalem.

³⁴ And Barzillai said to the king, How much longer have I to live, that it would be worthwhile for me to go up with the king to Jerusalem?

³⁵ I am this day eighty years old. Could I now [be useful as a counselor to] discern between good and evil? Can your servant appreciate what I eat or drink? Can I any longer enjoy the voices of singing men and women? Why then should your servant be still a burden to my lord the king?

³⁶ Your servant will only go over the Jordan with the king. Why should the king repay me with such a reward?

³⁷ Let your servant turn back again, that I may die in my own city and be buried by the grave of my father and mother. But here is your servant Chimham; let him go over with my lord the king. And do to him what shall seem good to you.

³⁸ The king answered, Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do to him what seems good to you; and whatever you ask of me I will do for you.

³⁹ So all the people went over the Jordan. When the king had crossed over, he kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and [the great man] returned to his own place.

⁴⁰ Then the king went on to Gilgal, and Chimham went with him; and all the people of Judah and also half the people of Israel escorted the king.

⁴¹ And all the men of Israel came to the king and said to him, Why have our kinsmen, the men of Judah, stolen you away and have brought the king and his household over the Jordan, and all David’s men with him?

⁴² But all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, Because the king is near of kin to us. Why then be angry about it? Have we eaten at all at the king’s expense? Or has he given us any gift?

⁴³ Then the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, We have ten [tribes’] shares in the king; and we have more right to David than you have. Why then did you despise and ignore us? Were we not the first to speak of our bringing back our king? But the words of the men of Judah were more violent than the charges of the men of Israel.

¹⁰ And all who depend on the Law [who are seeking to be justified by obedience to the Law of rituals] are under a curse and doomed to disappointment and destruction, for it is written in the Scriptures, Cursed (accursed, devoted to destruction, doomed to eternal punishment) be everyone who does not continue to abide (live and remain) by all the precepts and commands written in the Book of the Law and to practice them.^(A)

¹¹ Now it is evident that no person is justified (declared righteous and brought into right standing with God) through the Law, for the Scripture says, The man in right standing with God [the just, the righteous] shall live by and out of faith and he who through and by faith is declared righteous and in right standing with God shall live.^(B)

¹² But the Law does not rest on faith [does not require faith, has nothing to do with faith], for it itself says, He who does them [the things prescribed by the Law] shall live by them [not by faith].^(C)

¹³ Christ purchased our freedom [redeeming us] from the curse (doom) of the Law [and its condemnation] by [Himself] becoming a curse for us, for it is written [in the Scriptures], Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (is crucified);^(D)

¹⁴ To the end that through [their receiving] Christ Jesus, the blessing [promised] to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we through faith might [all] receive [the realization of] the promise of the [Holy] Spirit.