Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
For the Director of Music: According to “The Lilies”. A testimony of Asaph. A psalm.
A Prayer for Jerusalem
80 Shepherd of Israel, listen!
The one who leads Joseph like a flock,
the one enthroned on the cherubim,
display your glory.[a]
2 Reveal[b] your power before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh,
then come to our rescue.
8 You uprooted a vine from Egypt,
and drove out nations to transplant it.
9 You cleared the ground[a] so that its roots grew
and filled the land.
10 Mountains were covered by its shadows,
and the mighty cedars by its branches.
11 Its branches spread out to the Mediterranean[b] Sea
and its shoots to the Euphrates[c] River.
12 Why did you break down its walls
so that those who pass by pluck its fruits?[d]
13 Wild boars of the forest gnaw at it,
and creatures of the field feed on it.
14 God of the Heavenly Armies, return!
Look down from heaven and see.
Show care[e] toward this vine.
15 The root[f] that your right hand planted,
the shoot[g] that you tended for yourself,
16 was burned with fire, cut off,
and destroyed on account of your rebuke.
17 May you support the man at your right hand;
the son of man whom you have raised for yourself.
18 Then we will not turn away from you.
Restore us, so we can call upon your name.
19 God of hosts, restore to us the light of your favor.[h]
Then we’ll be delivered.
5 “You house of Jacob!
Come! Let’s live[a] in the Lord’s light.
6 For you have rejected your people,
the house of Jacob,
because they are filled with practices learned[b] from the East
and they are fortune-tellers like the Philistines.
They cut deals[c] with foreigners.[d]
7 Their land is filled with silver and gold,
and there is no end to their treasures;
their land is filled with horses,
and there is no end to their chariots.
8 Their land is filled with idols;
they bow down to the work of their hands,
to what their own fingers have made.
The Coming Day of the Lord
26 For if we choose to go on sinning after we have learned the full truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but only a terrifying prospect of judgment and a raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.[a] 28 Anyone who violates the Law of Moses dies without mercy “on the testimony of two or three witnesses.”[b] 29 How much more severe a punishment do you think that person deserves who tramples on God’s Son, treats as common the blood of the covenant by which it[c] was sanctified, and insults the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know the one who said, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will pay them back,”[d] and again, “The Lord[e] will judge his people.”[f] 31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!
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