Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer for Judging the Wicked
10 [a]Why do you stand far away, Lord?
Why do you hide in times of distress?
2 The wicked one arrogantly pursues the afflicted,[b]
who are trapped in the schemes he devises.
3 For the wicked one boasts about his own desire;
he blesses the greedy
and despises the Lord.
4 With haughty arrogance, the wicked thinks,
“God will not seek justice.”[c]
He always presumes “There is no God.”
5 Their ways always seem prosperous.
Your judgments are on high,
far away from them.
They scoff at all their enemies.
6 They say to themselves,
“We will not be moved throughout all time,
and we will not experience adversity.”
7 Their mouth is full of curses, lies, and oppression,
their tongues[d] spread trouble and iniquity.
8 They wait[e] in ambush in the villages,
they kill the innocent in secret.
9 Their eyes secretly watch the helpless,
lying in wait like a lion in his den.
They lie in wait to catch the afflicted.
They catch the afflicted when they pull him into their net.
10 The victim[f] is crushed,
and he sinks down;
the helpless fall by their might.
11 The wicked say to themselves,
“God has forgotten,
he has hidden his face,
he will never see it.”
12 Rise up, Lord!
Raise your hand, God.
Don’t forget the afflicted!
13 Why do the wicked despise God
and say to themselves, “God[g] will not seek justice.”?[h]
14 But you do see!
You take note of trouble and grief
in order to take the matter into your own hand.
The helpless one commits himself[i] to you;
you have been the orphan’s helper.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and evil man;
so that when you seek out his wickedness
you will find it no more.
16 The Lord is king forever and ever;
nations will perish from his land.
27 “You will tell them all these things, but they won’t listen to you. You will call out to them, but they won’t answer you. 28 You will say to them, ‘This is the nation that wouldn’t listen to the voice[a] of the Lord its God and wouldn’t accept correction. Truth has perished; it has been eliminated from their discussions.’
29 “Cut off your hair and throw it away;
let your lamentations rise on the barren heights,
because the Lord has rejected and abandoned
the generation that is subject to his wrath.[b]
30 “For the people of Judah have done evil in my eyes,” declares the Lord. “They have put their detestable idols[c] in the house that is called by my name in order to defile it. 31 They have built high places at Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire. I didn’t command this, and it never entered my mind!
32 “Therefore, the time is near,” declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. They’ll bury in Topheth because there is no other[d] place to do it.[e] 33 The dead bodies of these people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the land, and no one will disturb them. 34 In the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem I’ll bring an end to the sound of gladness and rejoicing, to the sounds of the bridegroom and bride, for the land will become a wasteland.”
Jesus Heals a Man with a Paralyzed Hand(A)
6 Once, on another Sabbath, Jesus[a] went into a synagogue and began teaching. A man whose right hand was paralyzed was there. 7 The scribes and the Pharisees were watching Jesus[b] closely to see[c] whether he would heal on the Sabbath, in order to find a way of accusing him of doing something wrong. 8 But Jesus[d] knew what they were thinking. So he told the man with the paralyzed hand, “Get up, and stand in the middle of the synagogue.”[e] So he got up and stood there.
9 Then Jesus asked them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do evil on the Sabbath, to save a life or to destroy it?”
10 He looked around at all of them and then told the man,[f] “Hold out your hand.” The man[g] did so, and his hand was restored to health. 11 The others were furious[h] and began to discuss with each other what they could do to Jesus.
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