Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
58 Is it true? O congregation, do you speak justly? O sons of men, do you judge uprightly?
2 Indeed, rather, you imagine mischief in your heart. Your hands execute cruelty upon the Earth.
3 The wicked are strangers from the womb. From the belly, they have erred and speak lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; like the deaf adder that stops its ear
5 It does not hear the voice of the enchanter (though he is most expert in charming).
6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouths. Break the jaws of the young lions, O LORD.
7 Let them melt like the waters. Let them pass away. When he shoots his arrows, let them be broken.
8 Let them proceed as a snail that melts, and like the stillborn child of a woman who has not seen the Sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the fire of thorns, let Him carry them away as green, with a whirlwind, in His wrath.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 And men shall say, “Truly, there is fruit for the righteous. Doubtless, there is a God Who judges on the Earth.” To him who excels: Do not destroy. A Psalm of David on Michtam, when Saul sent and they watched the house to kill him
23 “How can you say, ‘I am not polluted, nor have I followed Baal?’ Behold your ways in the valley and know what you have done. You are like a swift dromedary traversing her ways,
24 “a wild donkey used to the wilderness that sniffs at the wind in her passion. Who can turn her back when in heat? All those who seek her will not weary themselves but will find her in her month.
25 “Keep your feet from bareness, and your throat from thirst. But you said desperately, ‘No, for I have loved strangers, and them will I follow.’
26 “As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the House of Israel ashamed, they, their kings, their princes and their priests, and their prophets,
27 “saying to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You have begotten me.’ For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble, they will say, ‘Arise, and help us!’
28 “But where are your gods that you have made yourself? Let them arise, if they can help you in the time of your trouble. For according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah.
29 “Why will you plead with Me? You all have rebelled against Me,” says the LORD.
30 “I have struck your children in vain. They received no correction. Your own sword has devoured your Prophets like a destroying lion.
31 “O generation, take heed to the Word of the LORD! Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of darkness? Why, then, do My people say, ‘We are lords. We will come no more to You?’
32 “Can a maid forget her ornament, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me, days without number.
33 “Why do you beautify your ways, to seek love? Therefore, you will also teach the wicked your ways.
34 “Also in your wings is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents. I have not found it in holes, but upon all these.
35 “Yet you say, ‘Because I am guiltless, surely His wrath shall turn from me.’ Behold, I will enter into judgment with you because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’
36 “Why do you run around so much to change your ways? For you shall be confounded by Egypt as you are confounded by Assyria.
37 “For you shall go forth from there, and your hands upon your head, because the LORD has rejected your confidence, and you shall not prosper thereby.”
7 So that we may boldly say, “The Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man can do to me.”
8 Remember your leaders who have declared to you the Word of God. Follow their faith, considering what has been the outcome of their conduct. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
9 Do not be carried about with strange and diverse doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart is established with grace, and not with food which has not profited those who walk in them.
10 We have an altar from which those who serve in the Tabernacle have no authority to eat.
11 For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the Holy Place by the High Priest for sin, are burnt outside the camp.
12 Therefore, even Jesus - so that He might sanctify the people with His own blood - suffered outside the gate.
13 Therefore, let us go forth to Him out of the camp, bearing His reproach.
14 For here have we no continuing city. But we seek one to come.
15 Therefore, by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God (that is, the fruit of the lips which confess His Name).
16 Do not forget to do good and to share. For God is pleased with such sacrifices.
17 Obey your leaders and submit. For they watch over your souls, as those who must give an account. So that they may do so with joy and not with grief. For that is unprofitable for you.
18 Pray for us. For we are confident that we have a good conscience in all things, desiring to live honestly.
19 And I desire that you do so somewhat more earnestly, that I may be restored to you more quickly.
20 May the God of Peace, Who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus - the Great Shepherd of the sheep - through the blood of the everlasting Covenant,
21 make you perfect in all good works; to do His will, working in you that which is pleasant in His sight through Jesus Christ, to Whom be praise forever and ever. Amen.
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