Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 7
The Slandered Saint
Heading
A shiggaion[a] by David, which he sang to the Lord
because of the words of Cush, from the tribe of Benjamin.
David’s Innocence
1 O Lord my God, in you I take refuge.
Save me from all my pursuers and deliver me.
2 Otherwise, like a lion they will tear me apart.
They will drag me away with no one to rescue me.
3 O Lord my God, if I have done this,
if there is injustice in my hands,
4 if I have done evil to anyone who is at peace with me,
or if I have robbed my foe for no reason,
5 then let an enemy pursue my life and overtake me.
Let him trample my life to the ground
and make my glory dwell in the dust. Interlude
David’s Appeal for Justice
6 Stand up, O Lord, in your anger.
Rise up against the fury of my foes.
Awake for me. You have commanded justice.[b]
7 A crowd of peoples surrounds you.
Turn against them from on high.
8 Let the Lord judge the peoples.
Acquit me, O Lord, according to my righteousness,
according to my integrity which is in me.
9 The evil of the wicked will come to an end,
but you will establish the righteous.
You search minds and hearts,[c] O righteous God.
God’s Judgment Against the Wicked
10 My shield is God, who saves the upright in heart.
11 God, the judge, is righteous,
but he is a God who expresses his wrath every day.
12 If he[d] does not relent,
the Lord[e] will sharpen his sword.
He has bent his bow and will string it.
13 He prepares his deadly weapons.
He will make his arrows flames.
You Reap What You Sow
14 Yes, whoever conceives evil and is pregnant with trouble
will give birth to disappointment.[f]
15 He digs a pit and scoops it out,
and he will fall into the hole he has made.
16 The trouble he causes comes back on his own head.
His violence comes down on top of his own skull.
Closing Praise
17 I will thank the Lord because of his righteousness,
and I will make music to the name of the Lord Most High.
Warnings Produce No Repentance
6 I am the one who gave to you clean teeth[a] in all of your cities,
and lack of food in all your places,
but you did not return to me,
declares the Lord.
7 I am the one who withheld the rain from you
while there were still three months before the harvest.
I would send rain on one city,
but on another city I would not send rain.
One plot of ground would receive rain,
but another plot, on which it did not rain, would dry up.
8 Whenever people from two or three cities staggered to another city to get water to drink,
they would not have enough,
but you did not return to me,
declares the Lord.
9 I struck you with blight and mildew.
Your many gardens, your vineyards, your fig trees,
and your olive trees were devoured by locusts,
but you did not return to me,
declares the Lord.
10 I sent plagues against you like the plagues in Egypt.
I killed your best soldiers with the sword,
together with your captured horses.
I made the stench of your camp rise up into your nostrils,
but you did not return to me,
declares the Lord.
11 I overthrew some of you,
just as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
and you became like a burning stick snatched from the fire,
but you did not return to me,
declares the Lord.
12 Therefore, this is what I will do to you, Israel.
Yes, this is what I will do to you:
Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!
13 Indeed, he who forms mountains and who creates wind,
who declares his thoughts to mankind,
who turns dawn into darkness,
and who treads down the high places of the earth,
the Lord, the God of Armies, is his name.
Love One Another
11 This is the message you have heard from the beginning: Love one another. 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the Evil One and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own works were evil, while those of his brother were righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers,[a] if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have crossed over from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love[b] remains in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him. 16 This is how we have come to know love: Jesus[c] laid down his life for us. And we also should lay down our lives for our brothers. 17 Whoever has worldly wealth and sees his brother in need but closes his heart against him—how can God’s love remain in him?
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.