Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
94 O LORD God, the Avenger! O God, the Avenger, show Yourself clearly!
2 Exalt Yourself, O Judge of the World, and render a reward to the proud.
3 LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?
4 They babble on and speak fiercely. All the workers of iniquity boast of themselves.
5 They strike down Your people, O LORD, and trouble Your heritage.
6 They slay the widow and the stranger and murder the fatherless.
7 Yet they say, “The LORD shall not see; nor will the God of Jacob regard it.”
8 Understand, you unwise among the people and you fools. When will you be wise?
9 He Who planted the ear, shall He not hear? Or, He Who formed the eye, shall He not see?
10 Or, He Who chastises the nations, shall He not correct? He Who teaches man knowledge, shall He not know?
11 The LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.
12 Blessed is the man whom You chastise, O LORD, and teach in Your Law,
13 so that You may give him rest from the days of evil while the pit is dug for the wicked.
14 Surely, the LORD will neither fail His people nor forsake His inheritance.
15 For judgment shall return to justice; and all the upright in heart shall follow after it.
16 Who will rise up with me against the wicked? Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?
17 If the LORD had not helped me, my soul would have almost dwelt in silence.
18 When I say, “My foot slides.” Your mercy, O LORD, upholds me.
19 In the multitude of my thoughts, in my heart, Your comforts have rejoiced my soul.
20 Does the throne of iniquity, which forges wrong for a law, have fellowship with You?
21 They gather together against the soul of the righteous and condemn the innocent blood.
22 But the LORD is my refuge; and my God is the Rock of my hope.
23 And He will recompense their wickedness and destroy them in their own malice. The LORD our God shall destroy them.
5 “Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem. And behold now, and know, and inquire in its open places, if you can find a man, if there are any who execute judgment, and seek the truth. And I will spare it.
2 “For though they say, ‘The LORD lives,’ they still swear falsely.”
3 O LORD, are not Your eyes upon the truth? You have stricken them, but they have not anguished. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a stone and have refused to return.
4 Therefore I said, “Surely they are poor, they are foolish. For they do not know the way of the LORD, the judgment of their God.
5 “I will go to the great men, and will speak to them. For they have known the way of the LORD, the judgment of their God.” But these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds.
6 Therefore, a lion out of the forest shall slay them. And a wolf of the wilderness shall destroy them. A leopard shall watch over their cities. Everyone who goes out there shall be torn in pieces, because their trespasses are many and their rebellions are increased.
7 “How shall I pardon you for this? Your children have forsaken Me, and sworn by those who are not gods. Though I fed them to the full, they still committed adultery, and assembled themselves by companies in the harlot’s houses.
8 “They rose up in the morning like fed horses, every man neighing after his neighbor’s wife.
9 “Shall I not reckon for these things,” says the LORD? Shall not My Soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 “Climb up upon their walls and destroy them. But do not make a full end. Take away their battlements, for they are not the LORD’s.
11 “For the House of Israel, and the House of Judah have grievously trespassed against Me,” says the LORD.
12 They have denied the LORD, and said, “It is not Him, nor shall the plague come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine.
13 “And the Prophets shall be as wind. And the Word is not in them. Thus shall it come to them.”
14 Therefore, thus says the LORD God of Hosts: “Because you speak such words, behold, I will put My Words into your mouth, like a fire. And this people shall be as wood. And it shall devour them.
15 “Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from afar, O House of Israel,” says the LORD, “which is a mighty nation, and an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know. Nor do you understand what they say.
16 “Their quiver is as an open sepulcher. They are all very strong.
17 “And they shall eat your harvest and your bread. They shall devour your sons and your daughters. They shall eat up your sheep and your bullocks. They shall eat your vines and your fig trees. They shall destroy your fenced cities with the sword, in which you trusted.
18 This commandment I commit to you, son Timothy, according to previous prophecies concerning you, so that by them you should fight a good fight,
19 having faith and a good conscience (which some have put away and, as far as faith, have made shipwreck -
20 of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander - whom I have delivered to Satan so that they might learn not to blaspheme).
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