Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God the Righteous Judge
A Psalm of Asaph.
50 The (A)Mighty One, God the Lord,
Has spoken and called the earth
From the rising of the sun to its going down.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
(B)God will shine forth.
3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent;
(C)A fire shall devour before Him,
And it shall be very tempestuous all around Him.
The Wickedness of Judah
2 (A)Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth!
For the Lord has spoken:
“I have nourished and brought up children,
And they have rebelled against Me;
3 (B)The ox knows its owner
And the donkey its master’s [a]crib;
But Israel (C)does not know,
My people do not [b]consider.”
4 Alas, sinful nation,
A people [c]laden with iniquity,
(D)A [d]brood of evildoers,
Children who are corrupters!
They have forsaken the Lord,
They have provoked to anger
The Holy One of Israel,
They have turned away backward.
5 (E)Why should you be stricken again?
You will revolt more and more.
The whole head is sick,
And the whole heart faints.
6 From the sole of the foot even to the head,
There is no soundness in it,
But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores;
They have not been closed or bound up,
Or soothed with ointment.
7 (F)Your country is desolate,
Your cities are burned with fire;
Strangers devour your land in your presence;
And it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
8 So the daughter of Zion is left (G)as a [e]booth in a vineyard,
As a hut in a garden of cucumbers,
(H)As a besieged city.
9 (I)Unless the Lord of hosts
Had left to us a very small remnant,
We would have become like (J)Sodom,
We would have been made like Gomorrah.
The Degenerate City
21 (A)How the faithful city has become a [a]harlot!
It was full of justice;
Righteousness lodged in it,
But now (B)murderers.
22 (C)Your silver has become dross,
Your wine mixed with water.
23 (D)Your princes are rebellious,
And (E)companions of thieves;
(F)Everyone loves bribes,
And follows after rewards.
They (G)do not defend the fatherless,
Nor does the cause of the widow come before them.
Lay Up Treasures in Heaven(A)
19 (B)“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 (C)but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The Lamp of the Body(D)
22 (E)“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is [a]good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is [b]bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
You Cannot Serve God and Riches
24 (F)“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. (G)You cannot serve God and [c]mammon.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.