Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
To the Director: A Psalm by the descendants of Korah.
Restore Us, God
85 Lord you have favored your land
and restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You took away the iniquity of your people,
forgiving all their sins.
3 You withdrew all your wrath
and turned away from your burning anger.
4 Restore us, God of our salvation,
and stop being angry with us.
5 Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger from generation to generation?
6 Will you restore our lives again
so that your people may rejoice in you?
7 Lord, show your gracious love
and deliver us.
8 Let me listen to what God, the Lord, says;
for the Lord will promise peace
to his people, to his holy ones;
may they not return to foolishness.
9 Surely, he will soon deliver those who fear him,
for his glory will live in our land.
10 Gracious love and truth meet;
righteousness and peace kiss.
11 Truth sprouts up from the ground,
while righteousness looks down from the sky.
12 The Lord will also provide what is good,
and our land will yield its produce.
13 Righteousness will go before him
to prepare a path for his steps.
God Accuses Israel
4 “Hear this message from the Lord, people of Israel.
Indeed, the Lord brings a charge
against the people who live in the land—
for there is no truth and no gracious love
or knowledge of God in the land.
2 Swearing, lying, murder, theft, and adultery are rampant,
and blood mingles with blood.
3 Therefore the land will mourn,
and all who live there will languish,
along with the wild animals of the field and the birds of the air.
Even the fish in the sea will disappear.
4 “Let no one fight or bring charges against another,
for my dispute is with you, priest.
5 So you will stumble during the day,
the prophet also will stumble with you at night,
and I will destroy your mother.[a]
6 My people are destroyed because they lack knowledge of me.[b]
Because you rejected that knowledge,
I will reject you as a priest for me.
Since you forget the Law of your God,
I will also forget your children.
7 “The more they increased in number,[c]
the more they sinned against me,
so I will change their glory into shame.
8 They feed on the sin of my people;
they purpose in their heart to transgress.
9 So it will be: like people, like priest.
I will punish them for their lifestyles,
rewarding them according to their behavior.
10 They will eat,
but will not be satisfied.
They will engage in prostitution,
but they won’t increase,
because they have stopped listening to the Lord.
11 “Sexual immorality, wine, and fresh wine seduce the heart of my people.[d]
12 My people seek counsel from their piece of wood,
and their diviner’s rod[e] speaks to them.
For a spirit of prostitution causes them to go astray;
in their immorality they desert their God.
13 They offer sacrifices on the mountain tops,
burning offerings on the hills,
under oaks, poplars, and terebinth[f] trees,
since their shade is very good.
Therefore your daughters are prostitutes
and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
14 However, I’m not going to punish your daughters
when they commit prostitution,
nor your daughters-in-law
when they commit adultery,
because their men are themselves immoral—
they offer sacrifices with prostitutes.
These people who aren’t discerning will stumble.
15 “Even though you prostitute yourself, Israel—
let not Judah incur guilt—
don’t go to Gilgal,
or visit Beth-aven,
or swear an oath using the Lord’s name.[g]
16 For Israel is as obstinate as a stubborn mule![h]
Nevertheless, will not the Lord feed them like a lamb in a broad pasture?
17 Ephraim has become entwined with idols;
leave him alone!
18 While drinking to excess, they prostitute themselves.
They’re in love with dishonor.
19 A wind storm will carry them away in its embrace,
and their sacrifices will bring them shame.”
15 At that time,[a] Peter got up among the brothers (there were about 120 people present) and said, 16 “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the voice of David about Judas, who was the guide for those who arrested Jesus, 17 because he was one of our number and was appointed[b] to share in this ministry.” 18 (Now this man bought a field with the money he got for his crime. Falling on his face, he burst open in the middle, and all his intestines gushed out. 19 This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that this field is called in their language Hakeldama, that is, “The Field of Blood”.) 20 “For in the Book of Psalms it is written, ‘Let his estate be desolate, and let no one live on it,’[c] and, ‘Let someone else take over his office,’[d]
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