Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God Implored to Rescue His People from Their Calamities.
For the music director; set to [a]El Shoshannim; [b]Eduth. A Psalm of Asaph.
80 Listen, (A)Shepherd of Israel,
Who leads (B)Joseph like a flock;
You who (C)are enthroned above the cherubim, shine forth!
2 Before (D)Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, (E)awaken Your power,
And come to save us!
3 God, (F)restore us
And (G)make Your face shine upon us, [c]and we will be saved.
4 (H)Lord God of armies,
(I)How long will You [d]be angry with the prayer of Your people?
5 You have fed them with the (J)bread of tears,
And You have made them drink tears in [e]large measure.
6 You make us [f]an object of contention (K)to our neighbors,
And our enemies laugh among themselves.
7 God of armies, restore us
And make Your face shine upon us, [g]and we will be saved.
Woe to Oppressors
2 Woe to those who (A)devise wrongdoing,
Who practice evil on their beds!
[a](B)When morning comes, they do it,
Because it is in the (C)power of their hands.
2 They (D)covet fields, so they (E)seize them;
And houses, so they take them.
They [b](F)exploit a man and his house,
A person and his inheritance.
3 Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“Behold, I am (G)planning against this (H)family a catastrophe
From which you (I)cannot remove your necks;
And you will not walk (J)haughtily,
For it will be an (K)evil time.
4 On that day they will (L)take up against you a [c]song of mocking
And [d](M)utter a song of mourning and say,
‘We are completely (N)destroyed!
He exchanges the share of my people;
How He removes it from me!
To the apostate He (O)apportions our fields.’
5 Therefore you will have no one [e](P)applying a measuring line
For you by lot in the assembly of the Lord.
6 ‘(Q)Do not prophesy,’ so they prophesy.
But if [f]they do (R)not prophesy about these things,
(S)Insults will not be turned back.
7 Is it being said, house of Jacob:
‘Is the Spirit of the Lord (T)impatient?
Are these His works?’
Do My words not (U)do good
For the one (V)walking rightly?
8 [g]Recently My people have arisen as an (W)enemy—
You (X)strip the robe off the garment
From (Y)unsuspecting passers-by,
From those returned from war.
9 You (Z)evict the women of My people,
Each one from her pleasant house.
From her children you take My (AA)splendor forever.
10 Arise and go,
For this is no place (AB)of rest
Because of the (AC)uncleanness that brings on destruction,
A painful destruction.
11 If someone walking after wind and (AD)falsehood
Had lied and said,
‘I will prophesy to you about (AE)wine and liquor,’
He would become a prophet to (AF)this people.
12 “I will certainly (AG)assemble all of you, Jacob,
I will certainly gather the (AH)remnant of Israel.
I will put them together like sheep in the fold;
Like a flock in the midst of its pasture
They will be noisy with people.
13 The one who breaks through goes up before them;
They break through, pass through the gate, and go out by it.
So their king passes on before them,
And the Lord at their head.”
Perilous Times
15 “Therefore when you see the (A)abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in (B)the holy place—[a](C)let the [b]reader understand— 16 then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. 17 [c]Whoever is on (D)the [d]housetop must not go down to get things out of his house. 18 And [e]whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. 19 But (E)woe to those women who are pregnant, and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 Moreover, pray that [f]when you flee, it will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. 21 For then there will be a (F)great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will again. 22 And if those days had not been cut short, no [g]life would have been saved; but for (G)the sake of the [h]elect those days will be cut short. 23 (H)Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the [i]Christ,’ or ‘He is over here,’ do not believe him. 24 For false christs and (I)false prophets will arise and will provide great [j](J)signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even (K)the [k]elect. 25 Behold, I have told you in advance. 26 So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. 27 (L)For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will the (M)coming of the (N)Son of Man [l]be. 28 (O)Wherever the corpse is, there the [m]vultures will gather.
The Glorious Return
29 “But immediately after the (P)tribulation of those days (Q)the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and (R)the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 And then (S)the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see (T)the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. 31 And (U)He will send forth His angels with (V)a great trumpet blast, and they will gather together His [n](W)elect from (X)the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
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