Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 44
Israel’s Complaint
For the choir director. A Maskil of the sons of Korah.
1 God, we have heard with our ears—
our ancestors have told us—
the work You accomplished in their days,
in days long ago:(A)
2 to plant them,
You drove out the nations with Your hand;
to settle them,
You crushed the peoples.(B)
3 For they did not take the land by their sword—
their arm did not bring them victory—
but by Your right hand, Your arm,
and the light of Your face,
for You were pleased with them.(C)
4 You are my King, my God,
who ordains[a] victories for Jacob.(D)
5 Through You we drive back our foes;
through Your name we trample our enemies.(E)
6 For I do not trust in my bow,
and my sword does not bring me victory.(F)
7 But You give us victory over our foes
and let those who hate us be disgraced.(G)
8 We boast in God all day long;
we will praise Your name forever.(H)
9 But You have rejected and humiliated us;
You do not march out with our armies.(I)
10 You make us retreat from the foe,
and those who hate us
have taken plunder for themselves.(J)
11 You hand us over to be eaten like sheep
and scatter us among the nations.(K)
12 You sell Your people for nothing;
You make no profit from selling them.(L)
13 You make us an object of reproach to our neighbors,
a source of mockery and ridicule to those around us.(M)
14 You make us a joke among the nations,
a laughingstock[b] among the peoples.(N)
15 My disgrace is before me all day long,
and shame has covered my face,(O)
16 because of the voice of the scorner and reviler,
because of the enemy and avenger.(P)
17 All this has happened to us,
but we have not forgotten You
or betrayed Your covenant.(Q)
18 Our hearts have not turned back;
our steps have not strayed from Your path.(R)
19 But You have crushed us in a haunt of jackals
and have covered us with deepest darkness.(S)
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
and spread out our hands to a foreign god,(T)
21 wouldn’t God have found this out,
since He knows the secrets of the heart?(U)
22 Because of You we are slain all day long;
we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.(V)
Israel’s Adultery Forgiven
14 Therefore, I am going to persuade her,
lead her to the wilderness,(A)
and speak tenderly to her.[a]
15 There I will give her vineyards back to her(B)
and make the Valley of Achor[b](C)
into a gateway of hope.
There she will respond as she did
in the days of her youth,(D)
as in the day she came out of the land of Egypt.
16 In that day—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
you will call Me, “My husband,”(E)
and no longer call Me, “My Baal.”[c]
17 For I will remove the names of the Baals
from her mouth;
they will no longer be remembered by their names.
18 On that day I will make a covenant for them
with the wild animals, the birds of the sky,
and the creatures that crawl on the ground.(F)
I will shatter bow, sword,
and weapons of war in the land[d](G)
and will enable the people to rest securely.(H)
19 I will take you to be My wife forever.(I)
I will take you to be My wife in righteousness,
justice, love, and compassion.(J)
20 I will take you to be My wife in faithfulness,
and you will know Yahweh.(K)
21 On that day I will respond(L)—
this is the Lord’s declaration.
I will respond to the sky,
and it will respond to the earth.
22 The earth will respond to the grain,(M)
the new wine, and the oil,
and they will respond to Jezreel.
23 I will sow her[e] in the land for Myself,(N)
and I will have compassion(O)
on No Compassion;
I will say(P) to Not My People:(Q)
You are My people,(R)
and he will say, “You are My God.”
Waiting for Restoration
3 Then the Lord said to me, “Go again; show love to a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress,(S) just as the Lord loves the Israelites though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.”(T)
2 So I bought her for 15 shekels of silver and five bushels of barley.[f][g](U) 3 I said to her, “You must live with me many days. Don’t be promiscuous or belong to any man, and I will act the same way toward you.”
4 For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince,(V) without sacrifice(W) or sacred pillar,(X) and without ephod(Y) or household idols.(Z) 5 Afterward, the people of Israel will return(AA) and seek the Lord their God and David their king.(AB) They will come with awe to the Lord(AC) and to His goodness in the last days.
16 Therefore, don’t let anyone judge(A) you in regard to food and drink(B) or in the matter of a festival or a new moon(C) or a Sabbath day.[a] 17 These are a shadow(D) of what was to come;(E) the substance is[b] the Messiah.(F) 18 Let no one disqualify you,[c](G) insisting on ascetic practices(H) and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm and inflated(I) without cause by his unspiritual[d] mind. 19 He doesn’t hold on to the head, from whom the whole body,(J) nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, develops with growth from God.
20 If you died with the Messiah(K) to the elemental forces of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: 21 “Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch”? 22 All these regulations refer to what is destroyed by being used up; they are commands and doctrines of men. 23 Although these have a reputation of wisdom(L) by promoting ascetic practices, humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence.[e](M)
The Life of the New Man
3 So if you have been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above, where the Messiah is, seated at the right hand of God.(N)
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