Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer for Fairness
A shiggaion [C a musical or literary term of uncertain meaning] of David which he sang to the Lord about Cush, from the tribe of Benjamin [C an unknown person, but the tribe of Benjamin, Saul’s tribe, resisted David’s kingship at first; 2 Sam. 3–4].
7 Lord my God, I ·trust in you for protection [find refuge in you].
·Save [Rescue; T Deliver] me and rescue me
from those who are ·chasing [pursuing] me.
2 Otherwise, like a lion they will tear me apart.
They will ·rip me to pieces [or drag me away], and no one can ·save [rescue; T deliver] me.
3 Lord my God, what have I done?
Have my hands done something ·wrong [to make me guilty]?
4 Have I done wrong to ·my friend [L the one at peace with me]
or stolen without reason from my enemy?
5 If I have, let my enemy ·chase [pursue] me and ·capture [overtake] me.
Let him trample ·me [L my life] into the ·dust [earth]
and ·bury me [L lay my honor] in the ground. ·
6 Lord, rise up in your anger;
·stand up [L lift yourself up] against my enemies’ ·anger [fury].
·Get up [Wake up], ·my God [or for me], and ·demand fairness [insist on/L command judgment].
7 Gather the ·nations [L assembly/congregations of the peoples] around you
and ·rule [or take a seat over; L return] them from ·above [on high].
8 Lord, judge the people.
Lord, ·defend [judge] me ·because I am right [according to my righteousness],
·because I have done no wrong [according to my innocence].
9 God, you ·do what is right [are righteous].
You ·know [L test] our ·thoughts [L hearts/minds] and ·feelings [L kidneys; C the seat of emotions in Hebrew thought].
Stop those wicked actions done by evil people,
and ·help [establish] those who ·do what is right [are righteous].
10 God ·protects me like a [is my] shield;
he saves those whose hearts ·are right [have integrity].
11 God ·judges by what is right [is a righteous judge],
and God is ·always ready to punish the wicked [L angry every day].
12 If they do not ·change their lives [repent],
God will sharpen his sword;
he will string his bow and take aim.
13 He has prepared his deadly weapons;
he has made his flaming arrows.
14 There are people who ·think up [L conceive] evil
and ·plan [L are pregnant with] ·trouble [malice] and ·tell [L give birth to] lies.
15 They dig a ·hole [pit] ·to trap others [L and dig it deep],
but they will fall into it themselves.
16 ·They will get themselves into trouble [L Their trouble/malice will return to their head];
the violence they cause will ·hurt only themselves [L come down on their heads; Prov. 26:27; Matt. 26:52].
17 I praise the Lord ·because he does what is right [according to his righteousness].
I sing praises to the Lord Most High.
9 Announce this to the ·strong buildings [fortresses; palaces] of Ashdod [C a city in Philistia]
and to the ·strong buildings [fortresses; palaces] of Egypt:
“·Come to [Assemble yourselves on] the mountains of Samaria,
where you will see great ·confusion [chaos; tumult]
and ·people hurting others [oppression in her midst].”
10 “The people don’t know how to do what is right,” says the Lord.
“Their ·strong buildings [fortresses; palaces] are filled with ·treasures they took by force from others [the spoils of violence and robbery].”
11 So this is what the Lord God says:
“An enemy will ·take over [overrun; or encircle] the land
and pull down your strongholds;
he will ·take the treasures out of [plunder] your ·strong buildings [fortresses; palaces].”
12 This is what the Lord says:
“A shepherd might save from a lion’s mouth
only two leg bones or a scrap of an ear of his sheep.
In the same way only a few Israelites in Samaria will be saved—
·people who now sit on their beds
and on their couches [or only a corner of a bed or a part of a couch will be saved].”
13 “Listen and ·be witnesses [testify] against the family of Jacob [C Israel],” says the Lord God, the God ·All-Powerful [Almighty; of Heaven’s Armies; T of hosts].
14 “·When [L On the day] I punish Israel for their sins,
I will also destroy the altars at Bethel [C an important worship center in Israel; 1 Kin. 12:25–33].
The ·corners [L horns] of the altar will be cut off,
and they will fall to the ground.
15 I will tear down the winter house,
together with the summer house.
The houses ·decorated with [or filled with; L of] ivory will be destroyed,
and the great houses will ·come to an end [or be swept away],” says the Lord.
Israel Will Not Return
4 Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan on the Mountain of Samaria [C mocking the wealthy women of Samaria].
You ·take things from [oppress] the poor
and crush people who are in need.
Then you command your husbands,
“Bring us something to drink!”
2 The Lord God has ·promised [sworn] this:
“Just as surely as I am a holy God,
the time will come
when you will be taken away ·by hooks [or in baskets],
and what is left of you with fishhooks.
3 You will go straight out of the city
through ·holes [breaches] in the walls,
and you will be thrown ·on the garbage dump [on the dung heap; or out toward Harmon],” says the Lord.
4 “Come to the city of Bethel and ·sin [rebel; transgress];
come to Gilgal and ·sin [rebel; transgress] even more [C Bethel and Gilgal were important worship centers in Israel].
Offer your sacrifices every morning,
and bring ·one-tenth of your crops [your tithes] every three days.
5 Offer bread made with yeast as a sacrifice to show your thanks,
and ·brag about [publicly announce] the ·special [voluntary; freewill] offerings you bring,
because this is what you love to do, ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel],” says the Lord God.
Love All People
2 My dear brothers and sisters [C fellow believers], as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, never ·think some people are more important than others [show favoritism/partiality; Lev. 19:15; Deut. 10:17–18]. 2 Suppose someone comes into your ·church meeting [gathering; assembly; C the word can mean “synagogue,” but here refers to a house church gathering] wearing nice clothes and a gold ring. At the same time a poor person comes in wearing ·old, dirty [shabby; filthy] clothes. 3 You ·show special attention to [take notice of; look favorably on] the one wearing nice clothes and say, “Please, sit here in this good seat.” But you say to the poor person, “Stand over there,” or, “Sit on the floor ·by my feet [or beside my footstool].” 4 ·What are you doing? You are making some people more important than others [L Are you not discriminating among yourselves…?], and ·with evil thoughts you are deciding that one person is better [or you are judging with evil thoughts; or you are acting like judges with evil motives].
5 Listen, my ·dear [L beloved] brothers and sisters [C fellow believers]! ·God chose [L Did not God choose…?] the poor in the world [1 Cor. 1:26–29] to be rich with faith and to ·receive [L be heirs of] the kingdom God promised to those who love him [Luke 6:20]. 6 But you ·show no respect to [dishonor; have insulted] the poor. ·The rich are always trying to control your lives. They are the ones who take you to court [L Don’t the rich exploit/oppress you and drag you into court?]. 7 ·And they are the ones who speak against Jesus, who owns you [or Don’t they slander the noble/good name by which you were called? L Don’t they blaspheme the noble/good name that was invoked over you? C The “name” may be the person’s name or the name of Jesus, to whom they belong].
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