Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
44 1 The faithful remember the great mercy of God toward his people. 9 After they complain, because they feel it no more. 17 Also they allege the covenant made with Abraham, for the keeping whereof they show what grievous things they suffered. 23 Finally, they pray unto God not to contemn their affliction, seeing the same redoundeth to the contempt of his honor.
To him that excelleth. A Psalm to give instruction, committed to the sons of Korah.
1 We have heard with our [a]ears, O God: our fathers have told us the works that thou hast done in their days, in the old time:
2 How thou hast driven out the [b]heathen with thine hand, and planted [c]them: how thou hast destroyed the [d]people, and caused [e]them to grow.
3 For they inherited not the land by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou didst [f]favor them.
4 Thou art my king, O God: send help unto [g]Jacob.
5 [h]Through thee have we thrust back our adversaries: by thy Name have we trodden down them that rose up against us.
6 For I do not trust in my bow, neither can my sword save me.
7 But thou hast saved us from our adversaries, and hast put them to confusion that hate us.
8 Therefore will we praise God continually, and will confess thy Name forever. Selah.
9 But now thou art far off, and puttest us to [i]confusion, and goest not forth with our armies.
10 Thou makest us to turn back from the adversary, and they which hate us, spoil [j]for themselves.
11 (A)Thou givest us [k]as sheep to be eaten, and dost scatter us among the nations.
12 Thou sellest thy people [l]without gain, and dost not increase their price.
13 Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbors, a jest and laughing stock to them that are round about us.
14 Thou makest us a proverb among the nations, and a nodding of the head among the people.
15 My [m]confusion is daily before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,
16 For the voice of the slanderer and rebuker, for the enemy and [n]avenger.
17 All this is come upon us, yet do we not [o]forget thee, neither deal we falsely concerning thy covenant.
18 Our heart is not turned back: neither our steps gone out of thy paths,
19 Albeit thou hast smitten us down into the place of [p]dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we have forgotten the Name of our God, and held up our hands to a [q]strange god,
21 Shall not God [r]search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
22 Surely for thy sake [s]are we slain continually, and are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
23 Up, why sleepest thou, O Lord? awake, be not far off forever.
24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face? and forgettest our misery and our affliction?
25 For our soul is [t]beaten down unto the dust: our belly cleaveth to the ground.
26 Rise up for our succor, and redeem us for thy [u]mercy’s sake.
14 Therefore behold, I will [a]allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak friendly unto her.
15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley [b]of Achor for the door of hope, and she shall [c]sing there as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
16 And at that day, saith the Lord, thou shalt call me [d]Ishi, and shalt call me no more [e]Baali.
17 For I will take away the names of Baal out of her mouth, and they shall be no more remembered by their [f]names.
18 And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the [g]wild beasts, and with the fowls of the heaven, and with that that creepeth upon the earth: and I will break the bow, and the sword and the battle out of the earth: and will make them to sleep safely.
19 And I will marry thee unto me forever: yea, I will marry thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in mercy, and in compassion.
20 I will even marry thee unto me in [h]faithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord.
21 And in that day I will hear, saith the Lord, I will even hear [i]the heavens, and they shall hear the earth,
22 And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Jezreel.
23 And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy upon her, that was not pitied, (A)and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people. And they shall say, Thou art my God.
3 1 The Jews shall be cast off for their idolatry. 5 Afterward they shall return to the Lord.
1 Then said the Lord to me, [j]Go yet, and love a woman (beloved of her husband, and was an harlot) according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel: yet they looked to other gods, and [k]loved the wine bottles.
2 So [l]I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley.
3 And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide with [m]me many days: thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt be to none other man, and I will be so unto thee.
4 For the children of Israel shall [n]remain many days without a king and without a [o]prince, and without an offering, and without an image, and without an Ephod, and without Teraphim.
5 Afterward shall the children of Israel convert and seek the Lord their God, and [p]David their king, and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.
16 [a]Let no man therefore condemn you in meat and drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days,
17 Which are but a shadow of things to come: but the [b]body is in Christ.
18 [c]Let no man at his pleasure bear rule over you by [d]humbleness of mind, and worshipping of Angels, [e]advancing himself in those things which he never saw, [f][g]rashly puffed up with his fleshly mind,
19 [h]And holdeth not the [i]head, whereof all the body furnished and knit together by joints and bands, increaseth with the increasing of [j]God.
20 [k]Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the ordinances of the world, why, [l]as though ye lived in the world, are ye burdened with traditions?
21 [m]As, Touch not, Taste not, Handle not.
22 [n]Which all perish with the using, [o]and are after the commandments and doctrines of men.
23 [p]Which things have indeed a show of [q]wisdom, in [r]voluntary religion and humbleness of mind, and in [s]not sparing the body, which are things of no value, since they pertain to the [t]filling of the flesh.
3 1 Against earthly exercises, which the false apostles urged, 2 he setteth heavenly: 5 and beginneth with the mortifying of the flesh, 8 whence he draweth particular exhortations, 18 and particular duties which depend on each man’s calling.
1 If [u]ye then [v]be [w]risen with Christ, [x]seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.
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