Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 59
For the choir director; al tashcheth; a miktam by David when Saul sent men to watch David’s home and kill him.
1 Rescue me from my enemies, O my Elohim.
Protect me from those who attack me.
2 Rescue me from troublemakers.
Save me from bloodthirsty people.
3 They lie in ambush for me right here!
Fierce men attack me, O Yahweh,
but not because of any disobedience,
4 or any sin, or any guilt on my part.
They hurry to take positions against me.
Wake up, and help me; see for yourself.
5 O Yahweh Elohim Tsebaoth, Elohim of Israel,
arise to punish all the nations.
Have no pity on any traitors. Selah
6 They return in the evening.
They howl like dogs.
They prowl the city.
7 See what pours out of their mouths—
swords from their lips!
They think, “Who will hear us?”
8 O Yahweh, you laugh at them.
You make fun of all the nations.
9 O my strength, I watch for you!
Elohim is my stronghold, my merciful Elohim!
10 Elohim will come to meet me.
He will let me gloat over those who spy on me.
11 Do not kill them.
Otherwise, my people may forget.
Make them wander aimlessly by your power.
Bring them down, O Adonay, our Magen,
12 because of the sins from their mouths
and the words on their lips.
Let them be trapped by their own arrogance
because they speak curses and lies.
13 Destroy them in your rage.
Destroy them until not one of them is left.
Then they will know that Elohim rules Jacob
to the ends of the earth. Selah
14 They return in the evening.
They howl like dogs.
They prowl the city.
15 They wander around to find something to eat.
If they are not full enough,
they will stay all night.
16 But I will sing about your strength.
In the morning I will joyfully sing about your mercy.
You have been my stronghold
and a place of safety in times of trouble.
17 O my strength, I will make music to praise you!
Elohim is my stronghold, my merciful Elohim!
Jehu Is Anointed King of Israel
9 The prophet Elisha called one of the disciples of the prophets. He said, “Put on your belt. Take this flask of olive oil, and go to Ramoth Gilead. 2 When you arrive there, look for Jehu, son of Jehoshaphat and grandson of Nimshi. Go inside, and have him get up and leave his companions. Take him into an inner room. 3 Take the flask of oil, pour it on his head, and say, ‘This is what Yahweh says: I have anointed you king of Israel.’ Then open the door and leave immediately.”
4 The young man, the servant of the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead. 5 When he arrived there, the army’s generals were sitting together. He said, “I have something to tell you, General.”
Jehu asked, “Which one of us?”
He answered, “You, General!”
6 Jehu got up and went into the house. The prophet poured olive oil on his head and told him, “This is what Yahweh Elohim of Israel says: I have anointed you king of Yahweh’s people, king of Israel. 7 You will destroy the family of your master Ahab. I will get revenge on Jezebel for shedding the blood of my servants the prophets and all Yahweh’s other servants. 8 Ahab’s entire family will die. I will destroy every male[a] from Ahab’s family, whether slave or freeman in Israel. 9 I will make Ahab’s family like the family of Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) and like the family of Baasha, son of Ahijah. 10 Dogs will eat Jezebel inside the walls of Jezreel, and no one will bury her.” Then he opened the door and left.
11 Jehu came out to his master’s officials. One of them asked him, “Is everything alright? Why did this lunatic come to you?”
He answered, “You know the man and the kind of things he says.”
12 They said, “That’s not an answer. Please tell us.”
Jehu replied, “We talked for a while, and he said to me, ‘This is what Yahweh says: I have anointed you king of Israel.’”
13 Then each one of them immediately took off his coat and laid it on the stairs below him. They blew a ram’s horn and said, “Jehu is king!”
18 The message about the cross is nonsense to those who are being destroyed, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved. 19 Scripture says,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.
I will reject the intelligence of intelligent people.”
20 Where is the wise person? Where is the scholar? Where is the persuasive speaker of our time? Hasn’t God turned the wisdom of the world into nonsense? 21 The world with its wisdom was unable to recognize God in terms of his own wisdom. So God decided to use the nonsense of the Good News we speak to save those who believe. 22 Jews ask for miraculous signs, and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but our message is that Christ was crucified. This offends Jewish people and makes no sense to people who are not Jewish. 24 But to those Jews and Greeks who are called, he is Christ, God’s power and God’s wisdom. 25 God’s nonsense is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
26 Brothers and sisters, consider what you were when God called you to be Christians. Not many of you were wise from a human point of view. You were not in powerful positions or in the upper social classes. 27 But God chose what the world considers nonsense to put wise people to shame. God chose what the world considers weak to put what is strong to shame. 28 God chose what the world considers ordinary and what it despises—what it considers to be nothing—in order to destroy what it considers to be something. 29 As a result, no one can brag in God’s presence. 30 You are partners with Christ Yeshua because of God. Yeshua has become our wisdom sent from God, our approval, our holiness, and our ransom from sin. 31 As Scripture says, “Whoever brags must brag about what the Lord has done.”
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.