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.

¹⁸ “Nevertheless, in those days,” says the LORD, “I will not make a full end of you.

¹⁹ “And when they shall say, ‘Why does the LORD our God do these things to us?’ Then You shall answer them, “Just as you have forsaken Me and served strange gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

²⁰ “Declare this in the House of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,

²¹ ‘Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding, which has eyes and does not see, which has ears and does not hear.

²² ‘Do you not fear Me,’ says the LORD? ‘Or will you not be afraid in My presence? Who has placed the sand for the bounds of the sea by the perpetual decree, so that it cannot pass it? And though its waves rage, they still cannot prevail? Though they roar, they cannot pass over it?

²³ “But this people has an unfaithful and rebellious heart. They have departed and gone.

²⁴ “For they do not say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear the LORD our God, Who gives rain both early and late in due season, Who reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’

²⁵ “Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have hindered good things from you.

²⁶ “For among My people are found wicked persons, who lay in wait, as he who sets snares. They have made a pit to catch men.

²⁷ “As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit, by which they have become great and grown rich.

²⁸ “They have grown fat and smooth. They surpass the deeds of the wicked. They execute no judgment, no not the judgment of the fatherless. Yet they prosper, though they execute no judgment for the poor.

²⁹ “Shall I not reckon for these things,” says the LORD? “Or shall not My Soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

³⁰ “A horrible and filthy thing has been committed in the land.

³¹ “The prophets prophesy lies, and the priests receive gifts in their hands, and My people delight in them. But what will you do when it ends?

⁸ Dearly beloved, do not be ignorant of this one thing: that one day is as a thousand years with the Lord, and a thousand years as one day.

⁹ The Lord of that promise is not slow as some think of slowness; but is patient toward us, and would have no one perish, but have all come to repentance.

¹⁰ But the Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, on which the heavens shall pass away with a great rushing noise and the elements shall melt with heat. And the Earth, with the works in it, shall be burnt up.

¹¹ Therefore, seeing that all these things must be dissolved, what kind of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness

¹² (expecting and earnestly desiring the coming of that Day of God by which the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with heat)?

¹³ But we look for new heavens and a new Earth (according to His promise), in which dwells righteousness.