Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 10
Need for God’s Justice
1 Lord,[a][b] why do you stand so far away?(A)
Why do you hide in times of trouble?(B)
2 In arrogance the wicked relentlessly pursue their victims;
let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.(C)
3 For the wicked one boasts about his own cravings;(D)
the one who is greedy curses[c] and despises the Lord.(E)
4 In all his scheming,
the wicked person arrogantly thinks,[d]
“There’s no accountability,
since there’s no God.”(F)
5 His ways are always secure;[e]
your lofty judgments have no effect on him;[f]
he scoffs at all his adversaries.(G)
6 He says to himself, “I will never be moved—
from generation to generation I will be without calamity.”(H)
7 Cursing, deceit, and violence fill his mouth;
trouble and malice are under his tongue.(I)
8 He waits in ambush near settlements;(J)
he kills the innocent in secret places.
His eyes are on the lookout for the helpless;(K)
9 he lurks in secret like a lion in a thicket.
He lurks in order to seize a victim;
he seizes a victim and drags him in his net.
10 So he is oppressed and beaten down;
helpless people fall because of the wicked one’s strength.(L)
11 He says to himself, “God has forgotten;
he hides his face and will never see.”(M)
12 Rise up, Lord God! Lift up your hand.(N)
Do not forget the oppressed.(O)
13 Why has the wicked person despised God?
He says to himself, “You will not demand an account.”(P)
14 But you yourself have seen trouble and grief,
observing it in order to take the matter into your hands.(Q)
The helpless one entrusts himself to you;
you are a helper of the fatherless.(R)
15 Break the arm of the wicked, evil person,(S)
until you look for his wickedness,
but it can’t be found.(T)
16 The Lord is King forever and ever;(U)
the nations will perish from his land.(V)
17 Lord, you have heard the desire of the humble;
you will strengthen their hearts.
You will listen carefully,(W)
18 doing justice for the fatherless and the oppressed
so that mere humans from the earth may terrify them no more.(X)
Do Not Pray for Judah
16 “As for you, do not pray for these people.(A) Do not offer a cry or a prayer on their behalf, and do not beg me,(B) for I will not listen to you.(C) 17 Don’t you see how they behave in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven,[a](D) and they pour out drink offerings to other gods so that they provoke me to anger. 19 But are they really provoking me?” (E) This is the Lord’s declaration. “Isn’t it they themselves being provoked to disgrace?”
20 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: “Look, my anger—my burning wrath—is about to be poured out on this place,(F) on people and animals, on the tree of the field, and on the produce of the land. My wrath will burn and not be quenched.”(G)
Obedience over Sacrifice
21 This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices, and eat the meat yourselves,(H) 22 for when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them(I) or command them concerning burnt offering and sacrifice. 23 However, I did give them this command: ‘Obey me, and then I will be your God, and you will be my people. Follow every way I command you so that it may go well with you.’(J) 24 Yet they didn’t listen or pay attention(K) but followed their own advice and their own stubborn, evil heart. They went backward and not forward.(L) 25 Since the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until today, I have sent all my servants the prophets(M) to you time and time again.[b](N) 26 However, my people wouldn’t listen to me or pay attention but became obstinate;(O) they did more evil than their ancestors.(P)
The Letter to Philadelphia
7 “Write to the angel of the church in Philadelphia: Thus says the Holy One, the true one,(A) the one who has the key of David, who opens and no one will close, and who closes and no one opens: (B) 8 I know your works. Look, I have placed before you an open door that no one can close because you have but little power; yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.(C) 9 Note this: I will make those from the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews and are not, but are lying—I will make them come and bow down at your feet,(D) and they will know that I have loved you.(E) 10 Because you have kept my command to endure, I will also keep you from the hour of testing(F) that is going to come on the whole world to test those who live on the earth.(G) 11 I am coming soon.(H) Hold on to what you have,(I) so that no one takes your crown.(J)
12 “The one who conquers I will make a pillar(K) in the temple of my God, and he will never go out again. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God—the new Jerusalem,(L) which comes down out of heaven from my God—and my new name.(M)
13 “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.
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