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)
A Call to Repentance
6 Come, let us return to the Lord.(A)
For He has torn us,(B)
and He will heal us;(C)
He has wounded us,
and He will bind up our wounds.(D)
2 He will revive us after two days,(E)
and on the third day He will raise us up
so we can live in His presence.(F)
3 Let us strive to know the Lord.(G)
His appearance is as sure as the dawn.(H)
He will come to us like the rain,(I)
like the spring showers that water the land.
The Lord’s First Lament
4 What am I going to do with you, Ephraim?(J)
What am I going to do with you, Judah?
Your loyalty is like the morning mist(K)
and like the early dew that vanishes.
5 This is why I have used the prophets
to cut them down;[a](L)
I have killed them with the words of My mouth.
My judgment strikes like lightning.[b]
6 For I desire loyalty and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God(M) rather than burnt offerings.(N)
7 But they, like Adam,[c] have violated the covenant;(O)
there they have betrayed Me.(P)
8 Gilead is a city of evildoers,(Q)
tracked with bloody footprints.(R)
9 Like raiders who wait in ambush for someone,(S)
a band of priests murders on the road to Shechem.(T)
They commit atrocities.(U)
10 I have seen something horrible(V) in the house of Israel:
Ephraim’s promiscuity is there;(W) Israel is defiled.
Israel’s Present State
30 What should we say then?(A) Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained righteousness—namely the righteousness that comes from faith.(B) 31 But Israel, pursuing the law for righteousness,(C) has not achieved the righteousness of the law.[a](D) 32 Why is that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were by works.[b] They stumbled over the stumbling stone.(E) 33 As it is written:
Look! I am putting a stone in Zion to stumble over
and a rock to trip over,
yet the one who believes on Him(F)
will not be put to shame.(G)[c]
Righteousness by Faith Alone
10 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God concerning them[d] is for their salvation! 2 I can testify about them that they have zeal for God,(H) but not according to knowledge. 3 Because they disregarded the righteousness from God(I) and attempted to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted themselves to God’s righteousness. 4 For Christ is the end[e] of the law for righteousness(J) to everyone who believes.(K)
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