Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
74 O God, why hast Thou cast us off for ever? Why doth Thine anger smoke against the sheep of Thy pasture?
2 Remember Thy congregation, which Thou hast purchased of old, the rod of Thine inheritance, which Thou hast redeemed, this Mount Zion, wherein Thou hast dwelt.
3 Lift up Thy feet unto the perpetual desolations, even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
4 Thine enemies roar in the midst of Thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.
5 Once a man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees,
6 but now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
7 They have cast fire into Thy sanctuary; they have defiled by casting down to the ground the dwelling place of Thy name.
8 They said in their hearts, “Let us destroy them together!” They have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
9 We see not our signs; there is no more any prophet; neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
10 O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme Thy name for ever?
11 Why withdrawest Thou Thy hand, even Thy right hand? Pluck it out of Thy bosom!
12 For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 Thou didst divide the sea by Thy strength; Thou breakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 Thou breakest the heads of Leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood; Thou driedst up mighty rivers.
16 The day is Thine, the night also is Thine; Thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth; Thou hast made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Lord, and that the foolish people have blasphemed Thy name.
19 O deliver not the soul of Thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked; forget not the congregation of Thy poor for ever.
20 Have respect unto the covenant, for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
21 O let not the oppressed return ashamed; let the poor and needy praise Thy name.
22 Arise, O God, plead Thine own cause; remember how the foolish man reproacheth Thee daily.
23 Forget not the voice of Thine enemies; the tumult of those that rise up against Thee increaseth continually.
8 Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!
9 In mine ears said the Lord of hosts: “In truth many houses shall be desolate, even the great and fair, without inhabitant.
10 Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”
11 Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may pursue strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!
12 And the harp and the viol, and the taboret and pipe, and wine are in their feasts; but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of His hands.
13 Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge; and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.
14 Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth beyond measure; and their glory and their multitude and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.
15 And the lowly man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled.
16 But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God who is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.
17 Then shall the lambs feed according to their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.
18 Woe unto them that draw along iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope;
19 who say, “Let Him make speed and hasten His work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it.”
20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that count darkness as light, and light as darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink,
23 who justify the wicked for a reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
4 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God.
3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God; and such is the spirit of Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now already it is in the world.
4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.
5 They are of the world; therefore they speak of the world, and the world heareth them.
6 We are of God; he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby we know the Spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
Copyright © 1994 by Deuel Enterprises, Inc.