Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 142
Prayer for Deliverance from Persecutors
A Maskil of David. When he was in the cave. A Prayer.
1 With my voice I cry to the Lord;
with my voice I make supplication to the Lord.(A)
2 I pour out my complaint before him;
I tell my trouble before him.(B)
3 When my spirit is faint,
you know my way.
In the path where I walk,
they have hidden a trap for me.(C)
4 Look on my right hand and see:
there is no one who takes notice of me;
no refuge remains to me;
no one cares for me.(D)
5 I cry to you, O Lord;
I say, “You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living.”(E)
6 Listen to my cry,
for I am brought very low.
Judgment on Edom
7 Concerning Edom.
Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?
Has counsel perished from the prudent?
Has their wisdom vanished?(A)
8 Flee; turn back; get down low,
inhabitants of Dedan!
For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him,
the time when I punish him.(B)
9 If grape gatherers came to you,
would they not leave gleanings?
If thieves came by night,
even they would pillage only what they wanted.(C)
10 But as for me, I have stripped Esau bare;
I have uncovered his hiding places,
and he is not able to conceal himself.
His offspring are destroyed, his kinsfolk
and his neighbors, and he is no more.(D)
11 Leave your orphans; I will keep them alive,
and let your widows trust in me.(E)
The Old Life and the New
17 Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer walk as the[a] gentiles walk, in the futility of their minds;(A) 18 they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart.(B) 19 They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 That is not the way you learned Christ! 21 For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus, 22 to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts,(C) 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.(D)
Rules for the New Life
25 So then, putting away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with your neighbor, for we are members of one another.(E) 26 Be angry but do not sin;[b] do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not make room for the devil. 28 Those who steal must give up stealing; rather, let them labor, doing good work with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. 29 Let no evil talk come out of your mouths but only what is good for building up,[c] as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.(F) 31 Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice.(G) 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.[d](H) 5 1
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.