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.
15 For the day of the Lord is near against all the nations.
As you have done, it shall be done to you;
your deeds shall return on your own head.(A)
16 For as you have drunk on my holy mountain,
all the nations shall drink continually;
they shall drink and gulp down[a]
and shall be as though they had never been.(B)
Israel’s Final Triumph
17 But on Mount Zion there shall be those who escape,
and it shall be holy,
and the house of Jacob shall take possession of those who dispossessed them.(C)
18 The house of Jacob shall be a fire,
the house of Joseph a flame,
and the house of Esau stubble;
they shall burn them and consume them,
and there shall be no survivor of the house of Esau,
for the Lord has spoken.(D)
19 Those of the Negeb shall possess Mount Esau,
and those of the Shephelah the land of the Philistines;
they shall possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria,
and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.(E)
20 The exiles of the Israelites who are in Halah[b]
shall possess[c] Phoenicia as far as Zarephath,
and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad
shall possess the towns of the Negeb.(F)
21 Those who have been saved[d] shall go up to Mount Zion
to rule Mount Esau,
and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.(G)
The Purpose of the Parables
10 Then the disciples came and asked him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 He answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets[a] of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.(A) 12 For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.(B) 13 The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’(C) 14 With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:
‘You will indeed listen but never understand,
and you will indeed look but never perceive.(D)
15 For this people’s heart has grown dull,
and their ears are hard of hearing,
and they have shut their eyes,
so that they might not look with their eyes,
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart and turn—
and I would heal them.’(E)
16 “But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.(F) 17 Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.(G)
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.