Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 60
Prayer in Difficult Times
For the choir director: according to “The Lily of Testimony.”(A) A Miktam of David for teaching. When he fought with Aram-naharaim and Aram-zobah, and Joab returned and struck Edom in Salt Valley, killing twelve thousand.(B)
1 God, you have rejected us;
you have broken us down;
you have been angry. Restore us
2 You have shaken the land and split it open.
Heal its fissures, for it shudders.(D)
3 You have made your people suffer hardship;
you have given us wine to drink
that made us stagger.(E)
4 You have given a signal flag to those who fear you,
so that they can flee before the archers.[b](F)Selah
5 Save with your right hand, and answer me,
so that those you love may be rescued.(G)
6 God has spoken in his sanctuary:[c]
“I will celebrate!
I will divide up Shechem.(H)
I will apportion the Valley of Succoth.(I)
7 Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine,
and Ephraim is my helmet;(J)
Judah is my scepter.(K)
8 Moab is my washbasin.(L)
I throw my sandal on Edom;(M)
I shout in triumph over Philistia.”(N)
A Plea to Repent
14 Israel, return to the Lord your God,(A)
for you have stumbled in your iniquity.(B)
2 Take words of repentance with you(C)
and return to the Lord.
Say to him, “Forgive all our iniquity
and accept what is good,
so that we may repay you
with praise[a] from our[b] lips.(D)
3 Assyria will not save us,(E)
we will not ride on horses,(F)
and we will no longer proclaim, ‘Our gods!’ (G)
to the work of our hands.(H)
For the fatherless receives compassion in you.”(I)
A Promise of Restoration
4 I will heal their apostasy;(J)
I will freely love them,(K)
for my anger will have turned from him.(L)
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;(M)
he will blossom like the lily(N)
and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.(O)
6 His new branches will spread,
and his splendor will be like the olive tree,(P)
his fragrance, like the forest of Lebanon.(Q)
7 The people will return and live beneath his shade.(R)
They will grow grain(S)
and blossom like the vine.
His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.
The Cure for Anxiety
22 Then he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you,(A) don’t worry about your life, what you will eat; or about the body, what you will wear.(B) 23 For life is more than food and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens:(C) They don’t sow or reap; they don’t have a storeroom or a barn; yet God feeds them.(D) Aren’t you worth much more than the birds? 25 Can any of you add one moment to his life span[a] by worrying?(E) 26 If then you’re not able to do even a little thing, why worry about the rest?
27 “Consider how the wildflowers grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon(F) in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. 28 If that’s how God clothes the grass, which is in the field today and is thrown into the furnace tomorrow, how much more will he do for you—you of little faith?(G) 29 Don’t strive for what you should eat and what you should drink, and don’t be anxious. 30 For the Gentile world eagerly seeks(H) all these things, and your Father(I) knows that you need them.
31 “But seek his kingdom,(J) and these things will be provided for you.(K)
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