Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
To the Director: To the tune of[a] “Do not Destroy!”
A psalm of Asaph. A song.
Praise to God for Justice
75 We praise you, God!
We praise you[b]—your presence[c] draws near—
as we declare your wonderful deeds.
2 “At the time that I choose
I will judge the righteous.[d]
3 While the earth and all its inhabitants melt away,
it is I who keep its pillars firm.”
4 I will say to the proud, “Don’t brag,”
and to the wicked,
“Don’t vaunt your strength.[e]
5 Don’t use your strength to fight heaven[f]
or speak from stubborn arrogance.”[g]
6 For exaltation comes not from the east,
the west, or the wilderness,
7 since God is the judge.
This one he will debase or that one he will exalt.
8 For there is a cup in the hand of the Lord,
foaming with well-mixed wine
that he will pour out, leaving only the dregs,
from which all the wicked of the earth will drink.
12 “I won’t be silent concerning his limbs,
his mighty strength, and orderly frame.
13 Who can strip off his outer armor?[a]
Who can approach him with a bridle?
14 Who dares to open his mouth,[b]
since it is ringed with his terrible teeth!
15 His protective scales are his pride,
they lie sealed tightly together.
16 Each one is so close to the other
that not even air comes in between them.
17 Each is attached to the other,[c]
grasping each other so they cannot be separated.
18 “His snorting releases flashes of light;
his eyes are like the rays[d] of the dawn.
19 Flames blaze from his mouth;
streams of sparking fire fly out.
20 Smoke billows from his nostrils;
like a boiling pot or burning reeds.
21 His breath can ignite coal;
and flames proceed from his mouth.
22 “His neck is so powerful
that all who meet him are terrified.
23 There is no flaw in his body’s armor;
it is firmly fixed on him and unbreachable.
24 His heart is as strong as stone,
it is as hard as a lower millstone.
25 When he rears up, the mighty are terrified;
they are bewildered as he thrashes about.
26 “Thrusting at him with a sword won’t be effective,
nor will spears, darts, or javelins.
27 He regards iron like straw,
and hardened bronze like a dead tree.
28 Arrows won’t make him flee;
stones from a sling are only pebbles to him.
29 Clubs are like twigs;[e]
he laughs at the whoosh of the javelin.
30 “Beneath him he is armored as with sharp potsherds;
he tears through muddy ground
like a threshing sledge through grain.[f]
31 He causes the deep to boil like water in[g] a pot,
and churns the sea like one stirs ointment.
32 The sea is luminescent behind him;
his wake turns the sea white, like those with gray hair.
33 “There’s nothing like him on earth;
he was created without the ability to fear.
34 He looks down on everything that is high;
he rules over every kind[h] of pride.”
Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet
13 Now before the Passover Festival, Jesus realized that his hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.[a] 2 By supper time, the Devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray him. 3 Because Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into his control,[b] that he had come from God, and that he was returning to God, 4 therefore he got up from the table, removed his outer robe, and took a towel and fastened it around his waist. 5 Then he poured some water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel that was tied around his waist.
6 Then he came to Simon Peter, who asked him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
7 Jesus answered him, “You don’t realize now what I’m doing, but later on you’ll understand.”
8 Peter told him, “You must never wash my feet!”
Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you cannot be involved with me.”
9 Simon Peter told him, “Lord, not just my feet, but my hands and my head as well!”
10 Jesus told him, “Whoever has bathed is entirely clean. He doesn’t need to wash himself further, except for his feet. And you men[c] are clean, though not all of you.” 11 For he knew who was going to betray him. That’s why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 When Jesus[d] had washed their feet and put on his outer robe, he sat down again and told them, “Do you realize what I’ve done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right[e] because that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you must also wash one another’s feet. 15 I’ve set an example for you, so that you may do as I have done to you. 16 Truly, I tell all of you[f] emphatically, a servant isn’t greater than his master, and a messenger isn’t greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you understand these things, how blessed you are if you put them into practice!
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