Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Treacherous Tongue!
Psalm 52
1 For the music director: a contemplative song of David, 2 when Doeg the Edomite came and reported to Saul telling him, “David went to Ahimelech’s house.”
3 Why do you brag about evil, mighty man?
God’s lovingkindness is every day.
4 Your tongue plots destruction,
like a sharp razor, working deceit.
5 You love evil instead of good,
lying rather than speaking right. Selah
6 You love only devouring words—
treacherous tongue!
7 God will pull you down forever,
and snatch you, rip you out of your tent,
and uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
8 Then the righteous will see and fear,
and laugh at him:
9 “Here is the man who did not make God his stronghold.
Instead he trusted in his great riches—
and was strong in his evil desire.”
10 But I—I am like an olive tree flourishing in the House of God.
I trust in God’s lovingkindness forever and ever.
11 I will praise You forever for what You have done.
I will hope in Your Name, for it is good,
in the presence of Your kedoshim.
At Ease in Zion
6 Oy! You who are at ease in Zion,
trusting in Samaria’s hill!
Distinguished ones of the foremost of nations—
to whom the house of Israel comes
2 Go over to Calneh and look.
From there go to great Hamath,
go down to Gath of the Philistines.
Are you better than these kingdoms?
Or is their territory larger than yours?
3 Dismissing the day of calamity,
you bring near the throne of violence.
4 Reclining on beds of ivory,
sprawling on their couches,
dining on lambs from the flock
and calves from amid the stall,
5 chanting to the sound of harp like David,
inventing their own instruments of song,
6 drinking wine from bowls,
anointing with choice ointments—
yet they are not sickened over the breakdown of Joseph.
7 Therefore now they will go into exile at the head of the exiles.
Sprawling revelry will cease.
8 My Lord Adonai has sworn by Himself
—declares Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot—
“I loathe the arrogance of Jacob,
I despise his palaces,
so I will shut down the city and everything in it.”
9 If ten people remain in one house, they will die. 10 One’s beloved—the one burning incense for him—will lift him up to carry the bones out of the house, and he will say to one in the innermost recess of the house: “Is anyone else still with you?” And he will say: “No one.” Then he will say, “Hush! For we must not mention the Name of Adonai.”
11 For behold, Adonai will command,
He will smash the big house to fragments
and the little house to splinters.
12 Will horses run on the cliff?
Will one plow there with oxen?
Yet you turned justice into venom,
the fruit of righteousness into wormwood.
13 You are rejoicing for no reason, saying:
“Haven’t we taken two horns for ourselves by our own strength?”
14 “For behold, I am raising up against you,
O house of Israel, a nation,
and they will afflict you
from Lebo-Hamath[a] to the Valley of the Arabah.”
declares Adonai, the God of Hosts.
4 And when a large crowd was gathering and those from various towns were traveling to Him, He spoke by means of a parable. 5 “The sower went out to spread his seed. As he sowed, some fell beside the road and was trampled; and the birds of the air ate it up. 6 And other seed fell on rock; when it came up, that seed withered away because it had no moisture. 7 Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8 And other seed fell into the good soil; and when it came up, it produced fruit a hundredfold.” While saying these things, He would call out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
9 Now His disciples were asking Him what this parable meant. 10 Then Yeshua said to them, “To you has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to the others it is given in parables,[a] in order that
‘Seeing, they may
not see,
and hearing, they may
not understand.’[b]
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.