Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 85
You Showed Favor to Your Land
Heading
For the choir director. By the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
Past Goodness
1 You showed favor to your land, O Lord.
You restored Jacob.
2 You removed the guilt of your people. Interlude
You covered all their sin.
3 You put away all your wrath.
You turned from your burning anger.
Present Distress
4 Restore us, O God who saves us.
Put an end to your indignation with us.
5 Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you extend your anger through all generations?
6 Will you not turn and revive us,
so that your people may rejoice in you?
Hope for the Future
7 Show us your mercy, O Lord,
and give us your salvation.
8 I will hear what the true God, the Lord, will say.
He indeed speaks peace to his people, to his favored ones,
but do not let them turn to foolish ways.
9 Surely his salvation is near for those who fear him,
so that glory may dwell in our land.
10 Mercy and truth meet together.
Righteousness and peace kiss each other.
11 Truth springs up from the earth,
and righteousness looks down from heaven.
12 The Lord will indeed give good things,
and our land will yield its harvest.
13 Righteousness walks in front of him.
It prepares the way for his footsteps.
Judgment on Israel’s Priests and Kings
5 Hear this, you priests!
Pay attention, house of Israel!
Listen, O house of the king!
For this judgment applies to you,
because you were a trap at Mizpah
and a net spread out on Mount Tabor.
2 The rebels sink deeper into slaughter,
but I will discipline all of them.
3 I know Ephraim,
and Israel is not hidden from me.
Now, Ephraim, you still practice sexual immorality.
Israel is defiled.
4 Their deeds do not allow them to return to their God.
For a spirit of prostitution lies within them,
and they do not know the Lord.
5 The arrogance of Israel testifies against them.
Israel and Ephraim will stumble over their guilt.
Judah also will stumble with them.
6 They will go with their flocks and herds to seek the Lord,
but they will not find him.
He has withdrawn from them.
7 They acted treacherously against the Lord.
They even gave birth to illegitimate children.
Now the new moon will devour them along with their allotted land.
8 Blow the ram’s horn in Gibeah
and the trumpet in Ramah!
Raise a battle cry at Beth Aven: “Lead the way, Benjamin!”
9 Ephraim will become desolate ruins on the day it is punished.[a]
What I have made known among the tribes of Israel will certainly happen.
10 The officials of Judah are like people who move a boundary stone.
I will pour out my wrath on them like water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed,
crushed in judgment,
because he was determined to pursue worthless idols.[b]
12 I am like a moth to Ephraim,
and like decay to the house of Judah.
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness,
and Judah saw his wound,
Ephraim went to Assyria
and sent to the Great King for help,
but he is not able to heal you,
and he will not cure your wound,
14 because I will be like a lion to Ephraim
and like a young lion to the house of Judah.
Yes, I will tear him to pieces and go away.
I will carry them off, and there will be no one who can rescue them.
15 I will go. I will return to my place
until they admit their guilt and seek my face.
In their distress they will earnestly seek me.
22 “Men of Israel, hear these words! Jesus the Nazarene was a man recommended to you by God with miracles, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know. 23 This man, who was handed over by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, you[a] killed by having lawless men nail him to a cross. 24 He is the one God raised up by freeing him from the agony of death, because death was not able to hold him in its grip.
25 “Indeed, David says concerning him:
I saw the Lord always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
26 Therefore my heart was glad,
and my tongue rejoiced.
My flesh also will rest in hope,
27 because you will not abandon my life to the grave,[b]
nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
28 You have made known to me the paths of life.
You will fill me with joy in your presence.[c]
29 “Gentlemen, brothers, I can speak confidently to you about the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath that he would seat one of his descendants[d] on his throne,[e] 31 he saw what was coming and spoke about the resurrection of Christ, saying that he[f] was neither abandoned to the grave nor did his flesh see decay.[g]
32 “This Jesus is the one God has raised up. We are all witnesses of that. 33 So, after he was exalted to the right hand of God and after he received the promised Holy Spirit from the Father, he poured out what you are now seeing and hearing.
34 “For David did not ascend into heaven, and yet he says:
The Lord said to my Lord,
‘Sit at my right hand,
35 until I make your enemies
a footstool under your feet.’[h]
36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.