Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 55
My Friend Betrays Me
Heading
For the choir director. With stringed instruments. A maskil by David.
Opening Plea
1 Turn your ear to my prayer, O God.
Do not hide from my plea for mercy.
2 Pay attention to me and answer me.
The Problem
I am troubled in my thoughts and I groan
3 because of talk from the enemy,
because of oppression from the wicked,
because they dump evil on me,
and in anger they hold a grudge against me.
4 My heart is in anguish within me.
The terrors of death fall on me.
5 Fear and trembling come over me.
Horror covers me.
6 So I say, “I wish I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and find a place to rest.
7 Yes, I would flee far away. Interlude
I would stay in the wilderness.
8 I would hurry to find shelter,
far from the violent wind, far from the storm.”
9 Swallow them up, O Lord.
Confuse their speech,
for I see violence and contention in the city.
10 Day and night they sneak around on its walls.
Evil and trouble are in the city.
11 Destruction lurks within it.
Treachery and deceit never leave its streets.
12 For it is not an enemy who insults me—
I could bear that.
It is not someone who hated me who rises up against me—
I could hide from him.
13 But it is you, a man who served with me,
my colleague and my associate,
14 with whom I shared pleasant discussions
as we walked with the excited crowd at God’s house.
Plea for Judgment
15 Let deadly destruction come on them.
Let them go down to the grave alive,
because evil is at home in their hearts.
Round One: Bildad’s Speech
8 Then Bildad the Shuhite responded:
2 How long will you say such things?
How long will the words of your mouth be like a blustery wind?
3 Does God pervert justice?
Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
4 When your children sinned against him,
he handed them over to the consequences of their rebellion.
5 But if you will eagerly seek God
and plead for compassion from the Almighty,
6 if you are pure and upright,
then even now he will rouse himself on your behalf,
and he will restore your rightful dwelling place.
7 Then, though your beginnings were small,
your final days will be very great!
8 Yes, ask the previous generations,
and consider the discoveries of their fathers,
9 because we were born only yesterday and know nothing.
Our days on earth are nothing but a shadow.
10 Aren’t our ancestors the ones who should teach you and inform you,
the ones who brought forth words from their hearts?
11 Does papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh?
Do reeds thrive where there is no water?
12 While they are still growing and uncut,
they can wither faster than any other plant.
13 This is the way it will be for all those who forget God.
The hope of the godless man perishes.
14 His source of confidence is fragile.
He trusts in something as fragile as a spider’s web.
15 He leans on his web, but it does not support him.
He grasps it, but it does not hold him up.
16 He is a thriving plant flourishing in the sunshine,
spreading its shoots over the garden.
17 It wraps its roots around a heap of rocks.
It finds a home among the stones.
18 But if it is uprooted from its place,
that place disowns it, saying, “I have never seen you!”
19 Yes, the only good thing that comes from this situation is that
from the dust another plant sprouts.[a]
20 Certainly God does not reject a blameless man
or strengthen the hand of evildoers.
21 He will again fill your mouth with laughter
and your lips with a joyful shout.
22 Your enemies will be clothed with shame,
and the tents of the wicked will be no more.
Celibacy, Self-Control, and Marriage
7 Now concerning the things you wrote: It is good for a man not to touch[a] a woman. 2 But because of sexual sins, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. 3 The husband is to fulfill his obligation to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body—her husband does. Likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body—his wife does. 5 Do not deprive one another, unless you both agree to do so for a time, in order to devote yourselves to[b] prayer and then come together again, so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6 However, I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7 For[c] I wish all people were like me, but each person has his own gift from God. One person is blessed in this way, another in a different way.
8 I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain as I am. 9 But if they do not have self-control, they should marry, because it is better to marry than to burn with desire.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.