Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 91
Assurance of God’s Protection
1 You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,[a](A)
2 will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust.”(B)
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the hunter
and from the deadly pestilence;(C)
4 he will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and defense.(D)
5 You will not fear the terror of the night
or the arrow that flies by day(E)
6 or the pestilence that stalks in darkness
or the destruction that wastes at noonday.(F)
False Prophets of Hope Denounced
9 Concerning the prophets:
My heart is crushed within me;
all my bones shake;
I have become like a drunkard,
like one overcome by wine,
because of the Lord
and because of his holy words.(A)
10 For the land is full of adulterers;
because of the curse the land mourns,
and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up.
Their course has been evil,
and their might is not right.(B)
11 Both prophet and priest are ungodly;
even in my house I have found their wickedness,
says the Lord.(C)
12 Therefore their way shall be to them
like slippery paths in the darkness,
into which they shall be driven and fall,
for I will bring disaster upon them
in the year of their punishment,
says the Lord.(D)
13 In the prophets of Samaria
I saw a disgusting thing:
they prophesied by Baal
and led my people Israel astray.(E)
14 But in the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen a more shocking thing:
they commit adultery and walk in lies;
they strengthen the hands of evildoers,
so that no one turns from wickedness;
all of them have become like Sodom to me
and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.(F)
15 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets:
I am going to make them eat wormwood
and give them poisoned water to drink,
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
ungodliness has spread throughout the land.(G)
16 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you; they are deluding you. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.(H) 17 They keep saying to those who despise the word of the Lord,[a] “It shall be well with you,” and to all who stubbornly follow their own stubborn hearts, they say, “No calamity shall come upon you.”(I)
18 For who has stood in the council of the Lord
so as to see and to hear his word?
Who has given heed to his word so as to proclaim it?(J)
19 Look, the storm of the Lord!
Wrath has gone forth,
a whirling tempest;
it will burst upon the head of the wicked.(K)
20 The anger of the Lord will not turn back
until he has executed and accomplished
the intents of his mind.
In the latter days you will understand it clearly.(L)
8 I do not say this as a command, but I am, by mentioning the eagerness of others, testing the genuineness of your love.(A) 9 For you know the generous act[a] of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.(B) 10 And in this matter I am giving my opinion: it is beneficial for you who began last year not only to do something but even to desire to do something.(C) 11 Now finish doing it, so that your eagerness may be matched by completing it according to your means.(D) 12 For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.(E) 13 For I do not mean that there should be relief for others and hardship for you, but it is a question of equality between 14 your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may also supply your need, in order that there may be equality. 15 As it is written,
“The one who had much did not have too much,
and the one who had little did not have too little.”(F)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.