Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 50
God as Judge
A psalm of Asaph.(A)
1 Yahweh, the God of gods[a] speaks;
He summons the earth from east to west.[b](B)
2 From Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God appears in radiance.[c](C)
3 Our God is coming; He will not be silent!
Devouring fire precedes Him,
and a storm rages around Him.(D)
4 On high, He summons heaven and earth
in order to judge His people.(E)
5 “Gather My faithful ones to Me,
those who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”(F)
6 The heavens proclaim His righteousness,(G)
for God is the Judge.(H)
Judah on Trial
2 Listen, heavens, and pay attention, earth,(A)
for the Lord has spoken:
“I have raised children[a] and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against Me.(B)
3 The ox knows its owner,
and the donkey its master’s feeding trough,
but Israel does not know;
My people do not understand.”(C)
4 Oh sinful nation,
people weighed down with iniquity,(D)
brood of evildoers,(E)
depraved children![b]
They have abandoned(F) the Lord;
they have despised(G) the Holy One of Israel;(H)
they have turned their backs on Him.
5 Why do you want more beatings?
Why do you keep on rebelling?
The whole head is hurt,
and the whole heart is sick.
6 From the sole of the foot even to the head,(I)
no spot is uninjured(J)—
wounds, welts, and festering sores
not cleansed, bandaged,
or soothed with oil.
7 Your land is desolate,
your cities burned with fire;(K)
foreigners devour your fields
before your very eyes—
a desolation demolished by foreigners.
8 Daughter Zion(L) is abandoned
like a shelter in a vineyard,
like a shack in a cucumber field,
like a besieged city.
9 If the Lord of Hosts(M)
had not left us a few survivors,(N)
we would be like Sodom,
we would resemble Gomorrah.(O)
21 The faithful city—
what an adulteress[a] she has become!
She was once full of justice.
Righteousness once dwelt in her—
but now, murderers!
22 Your silver has become dross,[b]
your beer[c] is diluted with water.
23 Your rulers are rebels,
friends of thieves.(A)
They all love graft
and chase after bribes.(B)
They do not defend the rights of the fatherless,
and the widow’s case never comes before them.(C)
God and Possessions
19 “Don’t collect for yourselves treasures[a] on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.(A) 20 But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven,(B) where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness—how deep is that darkness!(C)
24 “No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and of money.(D)
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