Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 83
A song. A psalm of Asaph.
83 God, don’t be silent!
Don’t be quiet or sit still, God,
2 because—look!—your enemies are growling;
those who hate you are acting arrogantly.
3 They concoct crafty plans against your own people;
they plot against the people you favor.
4 “Come on,” they say, “let’s wipe them out as a nation!
Let the name Israel be remembered no more!”
5 They plot with a single-minded heart;
they make a covenant against you.
6 They are the clans of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
7 Gebal, Ammon, Amalek,
Philistia along with the citizens of Tyre.
8 Assyria too has joined them—
they are the strong arm for Lot’s children. Selah
9 Do to them what you did to Midian,
to Sisera, and to Jabin at the Kishon River.
10 They were destroyed at Endor;
they became fertilizer for the ground.
11 Make their officials like Oreb and Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna—
12 those who said, “Let’s take God’s pastures for ourselves.”
13 My God, make them like tumbleweeds,
like chaff blown by wind.
14 Just like a fire consumes a forest,
just like flames set mountains ablaze,
15 pursue them with your storm,
terrify them with your hurricane.
16 Cover their faces with shame, Lord, so that they might seek your name.
17 Let them be shamed and terrified forever.
Let them die in disgrace.
18 Let them know that you—
your name is the Lord!—
you alone are Most High over all the earth.
5 I will draw near to you for judgment.
I will be quick to testify against the sorcerers,
the adulterers, those swearing falsely,
against those who cheat the day laborers out of their wages
as well as oppress the widow and the orphan,
and against those who brush aside the foreigner and do not revere me,
says the Lord of heavenly forces.
6 I am the Lord, and I do not change;
and you, children of Jacob, have not perished.
Return to the Lord
7 Ever since the time of your ancestors,
you have deviated from my laws
and have not kept them.
Return to me and I will return to you,
says the Lord of heavenly forces.
But you say,
“How should we return?”
8 Should a person deceive God?
Yet you deceive me.
But you say,
“How have we deceived you?”
With your tenth-part gifts and offerings.
9 You are being cursed with a curse,
and you, the entire nation, are robbing me.
10 Bring the whole tenth-part to the storage house so there might be food in my house.
Please test me in this,
says the Lord of heavenly forces.
See whether I do not open all the windows of the heavens for you
and empty out a blessing until there is enough.[a]
11 I will threaten the one who wants to devour you
so that it doesn’t spoil the fruit of your fertile land,
and so that the vine doesn’t abort its fruit in your field,
says the Lord of heavenly forces.
12 All the nations will consider you fortunate,
for you will be a desirable land,
says the Lord of heavenly forces.
Healing and forgiveness
2 After a few days, Jesus went back to Capernaum, and people heard that he was at home. 2 So many gathered that there was no longer space, not even near the door. Jesus was speaking the word to them. 3 Some people arrived, and four of them were bringing to him a man who was paralyzed. 4 They couldn’t carry him through the crowd, so they tore off part of the roof above where Jesus was. When they had made an opening, they lowered the mat on which the paralyzed man was lying. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven!”
6 Some legal experts were sitting there, muttering among themselves, 7 “Why does he speak this way? He’s insulting God. Only the one God can forgive sins.”
8 Jesus immediately recognized what they were discussing, and he said to them, “Why do you fill your minds with these questions? 9 Which is easier—to say to a paralyzed person, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take up your bed, and walk’? 10 But so you will know that the Human One[a] has authority on the earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed, 11 “Get up, take your mat, and go home.”
12 Jesus raised him up, and right away he picked up his mat and walked out in front of everybody. They were all amazed and praised God, saying, “We’ve never seen anything like this!”
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible