Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 7
A shiggaion[a] by David; he sang it to Yahweh about the slanderous words of Cush, a descendant of Benjamin.
1 O Yahweh my Elohim, I have taken refuge in you.
Save me, and rescue me from all who are pursuing me.
2 Like a lion they will tear me to pieces
and drag me off with no one to rescue me.
3 O Yahweh my Elohim,
if I have done this—
if my hands are stained with injustice,
4 if I have paid back my friend with evil
or rescued someone who has no reason to attack me—[b]
5 then let the enemy chase me and catch me.
Let him trample my life into the ground.
Let him lay my honor in the dust. Selah
6 Arise in anger, O Yahweh.
Stand up against the fury of my attackers.
Wake up, my God.[c]
You have already pronounced judgment.
7 Let an assembly of people gather around you.
Take your seat high above them.
8 Yahweh judges the people of the world.
Judge me, O Yahweh,
according to my righteousness,
according to my integrity.
9 Let the evil within wicked people come to an end,
but make the righteous person secure,
O righteous Elohim who examines thoughts and emotions.
10 My Magen is Elohim above,
who saves those whose motives are decent.
11 Elohim is a fair Shophet,
an El who is angered by injustice every day.
12 If a person does not change, Elohim sharpens his sword.
By bending his bow, he makes it ready to shoot.
13 He prepares his deadly weapons
and turns them into flaming arrows.
14 See how that person conceives evil,
is pregnant with harm,
and gives birth to lies.
15 He digs a pit and shovels it out.
Then he falls into the hole that he made for others.
16 His mischief lands back on his own head.
His violence comes down on top of him.
17 I will give thanks to Yahweh for his righteousness.
I will make music to praise the name of Yahweh Elyon.
A Funeral Song about Israel
5 Listen to this message, this funeral song that I sing about you, nation of Israel:
2 The people of Israel have fallen,
never to rise again.
They lie abandoned in their own land.
There is no one to help them.
3 This is what Adonay Yahweh says:
The city that sends 1,000 troops off to war
will have only 100 left.
The one that sends 100 troops off to war
will have only 10 left for the nation of Israel.
A Threefold Call to Turn Away from Sin
4 This is what Yahweh says to the nation of Israel:
Search for me and live!
5 But don’t search for me at Bethel.
Don’t go to Gilgal.
Don’t travel to Beersheba.
Gilgal will certainly go into exile.
Bethel will come to nothing.
6 Search for Yahweh and live!
If you don’t, he will spread like a fire through the house of Joseph
and burn it down.
Bethel will have no one to put it out.
7 You, Israel, turn justice into poison
and throw righteousness on the ground.
8 Elohim made the constellations Pleiades and Orion.
He turns deep darkness into dawn.
He turns day into night.
He calls for water from the sea
to pour it over the face of the earth.
His name is Yahweh.
9 He destroys strongholds and ruins fortresses.
Jesus Will Judge the World
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all his angels are with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 The people of every nation will be gathered in front of him. He will separate them as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right but the goats on his left.
34 “Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, my Father has blessed you! Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. 35 I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you took me into your home. 36 I needed clothes, and you gave me something to wear. I was sick, and you took care of me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
37 “Then the people who have God’s approval will reply to him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or see you thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you as a stranger and take you into our homes or see you in need of clothes and give you something to wear? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
40 “The king will answer them, ‘I can guarantee this truth: Whatever you did for one of my brothers or sisters, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did for me.’
41 “Then the king will say to those on his left, ‘Get away from me! God has cursed you! Go into everlasting fire that was prepared for the devil and his angels! 42 I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink. 43 I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me into your homes. I needed clothes, and you didn’t give me anything to wear. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t take care of me.’
44 “They, too, will ask, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or as a stranger or in need of clothes or sick or in prison and didn’t help you?’
45 “He will answer them, ‘I can guarantee this truth: Whatever you failed to do for one of my brothers or sisters, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you failed to do for me.’
46 “These people will go away into eternal punishment, but those with God’s approval will go into eternal life.”
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.