Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A maskil of David written when he was in the cave. A prayer.

¹² “Look at them! They kill people to build their city and do wicked things to make their walled city strong. ¹³ But the Lord All-Powerful has decided that a fire will destroy everything that those people worked to build. All their work will be for nothing. ¹⁴ Then people everywhere will know about the Glory of the Lord. This news will spread just as water spreads out into the sea. ¹⁵ It will be very bad for those who become angry and make other people suffer. Like an angry drunk, they knock others to the ground and strip them naked, just to see their naked bodies.^[a]

¹⁶ “But they will know the Lord’s anger. It will be like a cup of poison in the Lord’s right hand. They will taste that anger, and then they will fall to the ground like drunks.

“Evil ruler, you will drink from that cup. You will get shame, not honor. ¹⁷ You hurt many people in Lebanon and stole many animals there. So you will be afraid because of the people who died and because of the bad things you did to that country. You will be afraid because of what you did to those cities and to the people who lived there.”

The Message About Idols

¹⁸ Their false god will not help them, because it is only a statue that someone covered with metal. It is only a statue, so whoever made it cannot expect it to help. That statue cannot even speak! ¹⁹ Look at them! They speak to a wooden statue and tell it, “Get up! Rescue me.” They talk to a stone that cannot speak and say, “Wake up!” Don’t you know those things cannot help you? That statue may be covered with gold and silver, but there is no life in it.

²⁰ But the Lord is in his holy temple, so the whole earth should be silent in his presence and show him respect.

⁹ I wrote to you in my letter that you should not associate with people who sin sexually. ¹⁰ But I did not mean the people of this world. You would have to leave the world to get away from all the people who sin sexually, or who are greedy and cheat each other, or who worship idols. ¹¹ I meant you must not associate with people who claim to be believers but continue to live in sin. Don’t even eat with a brother or sister who sins sexually, is greedy, worships idols, abuses others with insults, gets drunk, or cheats people.

^12-13 It is not my business to judge those who are not part of the group of believers. God will judge them, but you must judge those who are part of your group. The Scriptures say, “Make the evil person leave your group.”^[a]