Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Plea for Relief from Oppressors
A [a]Contemplation of Asaph.
74 O God, why have You cast us off forever?
Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?
2 Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old,
The tribe of Your inheritance, which You have redeemed—
This Mount Zion where You have dwelt.
3 Lift up Your feet to the perpetual desolations.
The enemy has damaged everything in the sanctuary.
4 (A)Your enemies roar in the midst of Your meeting place;
(B)They set up their banners for signs.
5 They seem like men who lift up
Axes among the thick trees.
6 And now they break down its carved work, all at once,
With axes and hammers.
7 They have set fire to Your sanctuary;
They have defiled the dwelling place of Your name to the ground.
8 (C)They said in their hearts,
“Let us [b]destroy them altogether.”
They have burned up all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 We do not see our signs;
(D)There is no longer any prophet;
Nor is there any among us who knows how long.
10 O God, how long will the adversary [c]reproach?
Will the enemy blaspheme Your name forever?
11 (E)Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand?
Take it out of Your bosom and destroy them.
12 For (F)God is my King from of old,
Working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 (G)You divided the sea by Your strength;
You broke the heads of the [d]sea serpents in the waters.
14 You broke the heads of [e]Leviathan in pieces,
And gave him as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 (H)You broke open the fountain and the flood;
(I)You dried up mighty rivers.
16 The day is Yours, the night also is (J)Yours;
(K)You have prepared the light and the sun.
17 You have (L)set all the borders of the earth;
(M)You have made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O Lord,
And that a foolish people has blasphemed Your name.
19 Oh, do not deliver the life of Your turtledove to the wild beast!
Do not forget the life of Your poor forever.
20 (N)Have respect to the covenant;
For the [f]dark places of the earth are full of the [g]haunts of [h]cruelty.
21 Oh, do not let the oppressed return ashamed!
Let the poor and needy praise Your name.
22 Arise, O God, plead Your own cause;
Remember how the foolish man [i]reproaches You daily.
23 Do not forget the voice of Your enemies;
The tumult of those who rise up against You increases continually.
Israel Will Be Restored
27 In that day the Lord with His severe sword, great and strong,
Will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent,
(A)Leviathan that twisted serpent;
And He will slay (B)the reptile that is in the sea.
The Restoration of Israel
2 In that day (C)sing to her,
(D)“A vineyard of [a]red wine!
3 (E)I, the Lord, keep it,
I water it every moment;
Lest any hurt it,
I keep it night and day.
4 Fury is not in Me.
Who would set (F)briers and thorns
Against Me in battle?
I would go through them,
I would burn them together.
5 Or let him take hold (G)of My strength,
That he may (H)make peace with Me;
And he shall make peace with Me.”
6 Those who come He shall cause (I)to take root in Jacob;
Israel shall blossom and bud,
And fill the face of the world with fruit.
7 (J)Has He struck [b]Israel as He struck those who struck him?
Or has He been slain according to the slaughter of those who were slain by Him?
8 (K)In measure, by sending it away,
You contended with it.
(L)He removes it by His rough wind
In the day of the east wind.
9 Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob will be covered;
And this is all the fruit of taking away his sin:
When he makes all the stones of the altar
Like chalkstones that are beaten to dust,
[c]Wooden images and incense altars shall not stand.
10 Yet the fortified city will be (M)desolate,
The habitation forsaken and left like a wilderness;
There the calf will feed, and there it will lie down
And consume its branches.
11 When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off;
The women come and set them on fire.
For (N)it is a people of no understanding;
Therefore He who made them will (O)not have mercy on them,
And (P)He who formed them will show them no favor.
Jesus Cleanses the Temple(A)
45 (B)Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who [a]bought and sold in it, 46 saying to them, “It is written, (C)‘My house [b]is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a (D)‘den of thieves.’ ”
47 And He (E)was teaching daily in the temple. But (F)the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people sought to destroy Him, 48 and were unable to do anything; for all the people were very attentive to (G)hear Him.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.