Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
BOOK FIVE
(Psalms 107–150)
107 Give thanks to the Lord because he is good,
because his mercy endures forever.
2 Let the people the Lord defended repeat these words.
They are the people he defended from the power of their enemies
3 and gathered from other countries,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.
4 They wandered around the desert on a deserted road
without finding an inhabited city.
5 They were hungry and thirsty.
They began to lose hope.
6 In their distress they cried out to the Lord.
He rescued them from their troubles.
7 He led them on a road that went straight to an inhabited city.
8 Let them give thanks to the Lord because of his mercy.
He performed his miracles for Adam’s descendants.
9 He gave plenty to drink to those who were thirsty.
He filled those who were hungry with good food.
43 Let those who ⌞think⌟ they are wise
pay attention to these things
so that they may understand the Lord’s blessings.
9 Israel, don’t rejoice.
Don’t celebrate as other nations do.
You have been unfaithful to your God.
You have sold sex on every threshing floor.[a]
2 There won’t be enough grain to feed people.
There won’t be enough wine to go around.
3 The people of Ephraim won’t stay in the Lord’s land.
They will return to Egypt,
and they will eat unclean [b] food in Assyria.
4 They won’t pour wine offerings to the Lord,
and their sacrifices won’t please him.
Their sacrifices will be like the food that mourners eat.
All who eat this food will be unclean.
Their food will only satisfy their hunger.
It will not be brought ⌞as an offering⌟ to the Lord’s temple.
5 What will they do on the day of an appointed festival
or on the Lord’s festival days?
6 Even if they escape without being destroyed,
Egypt will capture them
and Memphis will bury them.
Weeds will grow over their silver treasures.
Thorns will grow over their tents.
7 The time for them to be punished will come.
The time for them to pay for their sins will come.
⌞When this happens,⌟ Israel will know it.
⌞They think that⌟ prophets are fools
and that spiritual people are crazy.
They have sinned a lot, and they are very hostile.
8 Prophets are God’s watchmen over Ephraim.
Yet, traps are set on every prophet’s path,
and people are hostile in the temple of their God.
9 People have deeply corrupted themselves as they once did at Gibeah.
God will remember their wickedness
and punish them because of their sins.
Israel Is Like Rotten Grapes or Rotten Figs
10 ⌞The Lord said,⌟ “When I found Israel,
it was like finding grapes in the desert.
When I saw your ancestors,
it was like seeing the first figs of the harvest.
But they went to Baal Peor and worshiped shameful idols.
They became as disgusting as the things they worshiped.
11 “Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird.
There will be no more pregnancies, births, or babies.
12 Even if they bring up children,
I will take those children away before they grow up.
Yes, how horrible it will be for them when I leave them.
13 I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place.
But the people of Ephraim will bring out their children
to be killed.”
14 Lord, give them what they deserve.
Make the women miscarry,
or else make them unable to nurse their babies.
15 “All Ephraim’s wickedness began in Gilgal; I hated the people there.
I will force them out of my temple because of their wickedness,
and I won’t love them anymore.
All their officials are rebellious.
16 “The people of Ephraim are like sick plants.
Their roots are dried up.
They have no fruit.
Even if they were to have children,
I would kill their dear children.”
17 My God will reject them
because they refused to listen to him.
They will wander among the nations.
Live as God’s People
17 So I tell you and encourage you in the Lord’s name not to live any longer like other people in the world. Their minds are set on worthless things. 18 They can’t understand because they are in the dark. They are excluded from the life that God approves of because of their ignorance and stubbornness. 19 Since they no longer have any sense of shame, they have become promiscuous. They practice every kind of sexual perversion with a constant desire for more.
20 But that is not what you learned from Christ’s teachings. 21 You have certainly heard his message and have been taught his ways. The truth is in Jesus. 22 You were taught to change the way you were living. The person you used to be will ruin you through desires that deceive you. 23 However, you were taught to have a new attitude. 24 You were also taught to become a new person created to be like God, with a life that truly has God’s approval and is holy.
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