Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
To the Director: A Davidic instruction[a] about Doeg, the Edomite, when he went to Saul and told him, “David went to the house of Abimelech.”
A Rebuke to the Deceitful
52 Why do you make evil
the foundation of your boasting, mighty one?[b]
God’s gracious love never ceases.[c]
2 Your tongue, like a sharp razor, devises wicked things
and crafts treachery.
3 You love evil rather than good,
falsehood rather than speaking uprightly.
4 You love all words that destroy, you deceitful tongue!
5 But God will tear you down forever;
he will take you away,
even snatching you out of your tent!
He will uproot you from the land of the living.
6 The righteous will fear when they see this,
but then they will laugh at him, saying,
7 “Look, here is a young man who refused to make God his strength;
instead, he trusted in his great wealth
and made his wickedness his strength.
8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;
I trust in the gracious love of God forever and ever.
9 Therefore I will praise you forever
because of what you did;
I will proclaim that your name is good
in the midst of your faithful ones.
10 They have hated those who are presenting their cases in court,[a]
detesting the one who speaks truthfully.
11 ‘Therefore, since you trample the poor continuously,
taxing his grain,
building houses of stone in which you won’t live
and planting fine vineyards from which you won’t drink—
12 and because I know that your transgressions are many,
and your sins are numerous
as you oppose the righteous,
taking bribes as a ransom,
and turning away the poor in court[b]—
13 therefore the prudent person remains silent at such a time,
for the time is evil.
14 ‘Pursue good and not evil,
so that you may live,
and this is what will happen:[c]
The Lord God of the Heavenly Armies will be with you,
as you have been claiming.
15 Hate evil and love good,
and establish justice in court—[d]
perhaps the Lord, the God of the Heavenly Armies,
will be gracious to the survivors of Joseph.’”
16 Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of the Heavenly Armies, the Lord, says:
Qualifications for the Priesthood
5 For every high priest selected from among men is appointed to officiate on their behalf[a] in matters relating to God, that is, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can deal gently with people who are ignorant and easily deceived, since he himself is subject to weakness. 3 For that reason he is obligated to offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as for those of the people. 4 No one takes this honor upon himself but he is called to it by God, just as Aaron was.
The Messiah’s Qualifications as High Priest
5 In the same way, the Messiah[b] did not take upon himself the glory of being a high priest. No, it was God who said[c] to him,
“You are my Son.
Today I have become your Father.”[d]
6 As he also says in another place,
“You are a priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek.”[e]
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