Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
My Hope When I Am Gray
Psalm 71
1 In You, Adonai, have I taken refuge.
Let me never be ashamed.
2 Deliver me and rescue me in Your justice.
Turn Your ear to me and save me.
3 Be to me a sheltering rock where I may always go.
Give the command to save me—
for You are my rock and my fortress.
4 My God, rescue me out of the hand of the wicked,
out of the grasp of an evil, ruthless man.
5 For You are my hope, Adonai my Lord—
my trust from my youth.
6 From my birth I have leaned on You.
You took me out of my mother’s womb.
My praise is always about You.
Jerusalem Under Siege
6 Flee for refuge, children of Benjamin,
from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the shofar in Tekoa
and raise a signal in Beth-cherem!
For disaster looms from the north,
even terrible destruction.
2 “The lovely, delicate Daughter of Zion
I will cut off.”
3 Shepherds with their flocks are coming against her.
All around her they pitch their tents,
each pasturing in his own place.
4 “Prepare for war against her.
Rise up! Let’s attack at noon.”
“Oy for us! For day is fading—
evening shadows are lengthening.”
5 “Rise up! Let’s attack at night
and destroy her palaces.”
6 For thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot:
“Chop down her trees!
Raise a siege ramp at Jerusalem.
This city must be punished—
in her midst is only oppression.
7 As a well gushes out its waters,
so she pours out her wickedness.
Violence and havoc are heard in her,
sickness and wounds ever before Me.
8 Be warned, O Jerusalem,
lest I abandon you,
lest I make you desolate—
an uninhabited land.”
9 Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot:
“Glean the remnant of Israel
thoroughly as a vine.
Pass your hand over the branches once more,
like a grape-gatherer.”
10 “To whom can I speak and warn
so they would hear?
See, their ears are uncircumcised,
unable to hear!
The word of Adonai has become scorn to them.
They have no delight in it.
11 So I am full of the wrath of Adonai.
I am weary of holding it in!
Pour it out on a child in the street,
on young men gathered together.
For husband will be taken with wife,
the aged with the very old.
12 Their homes will be turned over to others
—together with their fields and their wives.
For I will stretch out My hand
on the inhabitants of the land.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
13 “For from the least to the greatest,
all of them are greedy for gain,
and from prophet even to kohen,
everyone practices deceit.
14 They healed the wound of My people superficially,
saying ‘Shalom, shalom!’
when there is no shalom.”
15 “Were they ashamed when they
committed abomination? No, they were
not at all ashamed; they did not know
how to blush. Therefore they shall fall
among those who fall; at the time that
I punish them, they shall be
overthrown,” says Adonai.
16 Thus says Adonai:
“Stand in the roads and look.
Ask for the ancient paths—
where the good way is—and walk in it.
Then you will find rest for your souls.[a]
But they said, ‘We won’t walk in it.’
17 So I set watchmen over you, saying
‘Listen to the sound of the shofar!’
But they said, ‘We won’t listen.’
18 Therefore hear, O nations
and observe, O congregation,
what is against them.
19 Hear, O earth!
See, I will bring disaster on this people
—fruit of their schemes—
for they did not listen to My words
and rejected My Torah.
[a] 3 Consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and lose heart.
4 In struggling against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of bloodshed. 5 Have you forgotten the warning addressed to you as sons?
“My son, do not take lightly the discipline of Adonai
or lose heart when you are corrected by Him,
6 because Adonai disciplines the one He loves
and punishes every son He accepts.”[b]
7 It is for discipline that you endure. God is treating you as sons—for what son does a father not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline—something all have come to share—then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Besides, we are used to having human fathers as instructors—and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 Indeed, for a short time they disciplined us as seemed best to them; but He does so for our benefit, so that we may share in His holiness. 11 Now all discipline seems painful at the moment—not joyful. But later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble! [c] 13 And make straight paths for your feet,[d] so that what is lame will not be pulled out of joint but rather be healed. 14 Pursue shalom with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God; and see to it that no bitter root springs up and causes trouble, and by it many be defiled. 16 Also see to it that there is no immoral or godless person—like Esau, who sold his birthright for one meal. [e] 17 For you know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. He found no chance for repentance, though he begged for it with tears.[f]
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.