Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 142
When My Spirit Grows Faint
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A maskil[a] by David. When he was in the cave.[b] A prayer.
A Prayer for the Weary
1 With my voice I cry out to the Lord.
With my voice I call to the Lord for mercy.
2 I pour out my complaint before him.
I tell my distress before him.
3 When my spirit grows faint within me,
you are the one who knows my course.
On the path where I walk they have hidden a snare for me.
4 Look to my right and see.
There is no one who recognizes me.
There is no escape for me.
No one cares about my life.
5 I cry out to you, Lord.
I say, “You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living.”
6 Pay attention to my loud cry,
because I am very weak.
Rescue me from those who pursue me,
because they are too strong for me.
7 Set me free from my prison,
so I can give thanks to your name.
Then the righteous will gather around me,
because you have accomplished your purpose for me.
3 This is the prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to shigionoth.[a]
2 O Lord, I have heard the report about you,
and I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord.
In the midst of our years revive those deeds.
In the midst of our years reveal them again.
In your rage, remember to have mercy.
3 God comes from Teman. Interlude[b]
The Holy One comes from Mount Paran.
His splendor covers the heavens,
and his praises fill the earth.
4 His brightness is like lightning.
Lightning bolts flash out from his hand,[c]
where his strength is hidden.
5 Contagious disease goes ahead of him,
and plague follows after him.
6 He stands up and shakes[d] the earth.
He looks, and the nations jump in fright.
The ancient mountains are shattered.
The age-old hills are flattened.
But he goes on forever.
7 I saw the tents of Cushan overwhelmed by trouble.
The tent curtains in the land of Midian were trembling.
8 Were you angry with the rivers, Lord?
Was your anger against the rivers?
Or was your fury against the sea?
Is that why you hitched up your horses
and rode your chariots of salvation?
9 You unsheathed your bow Interlude
and called for arrows.
You split the earth with rivers.
10 When the mountains see you, they shake.
A flood of water sweeps through.
The great deep roars
and lifts its hands high.
11 The sun and the moon stand still in their palace
when your flying arrows flash,
when your spear is bright as lightning.
12 In fury you march through the earth.
In anger you trample the nations.
13 You march out to save your people,
to deliver your anointed one.
You strike the head of the wicked nation to lay him out Interlude
naked from his buttocks to his neck.[e]
14 With their own shafts you pierce the heads of warriors
when they storm out to scatter us.
Their celebration is like that of those who devour the poor in secret,
15 but you trample on the sea with your horses,
on the surging, powerful waters.
16 When I hear about it, my stomach churns.
The sound makes my lips quiver.
My bones decay,
and my knees tremble,
as I wait for the day of disaster to come upon the people who attack us.
5 I want to remind you, though you already know all these things, that after the Lord[a] rescued his people out of the land of Egypt, he later destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their position of authority but left their own dwelling place behind—God has kept them in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day. 7 Like Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, who in a similar way indulged in extreme sexual immorality and pursued homosexual perversion,[b] they serve as an example of those who are going to suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
8 Yet, in the very same way, these dreamers are defiling the flesh, despising authority, and blaspheming glorious ones. 9 But when the archangel Michael was disputing with the Devil and arguing about the body of Moses, he did not dare to bring a blasphemous condemnation against him. Instead he said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
10 But these people do not understand what they are blaspheming. They are being destroyed by the very things that they know by instinct (like unreasoning animals). 11 Woe to them! They have gone the way of Cain. They have abandoned themselves for hire to the error of Balaam. They perished in Korah’s rebellion.
12 These people are filthy stains on[c] your love feasts when they eat with you without fear, shepherding themselves. They are clouds without rain, being driven along by the winds. They are autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots. 13 They are wild waves of the sea piling up the foam of their own shame. They are wandering stars for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved for eternity.
14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, also prophesied about these people, saying, “Look, the Lord is going to come with tens of thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment against all of them and to convict every soul concerning all their ungodly deeds, which they did in an ungodly way, and concerning all the harsh words that ungodly sinners spoke against him.” 16 These are discontented grumblers, who walk according to their lusts, and their mouths speak boastful things as they flatter others to take advantage of them.
Keep Yourselves in God’s Love
17 But you, dear friends, remember the words that were spoken earlier by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18 They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers who follow their own ungodly lusts.”[d] 19 These are the people who cause divisions. They are worldly because they do not have the Spirit.
20 But you, dear friends, continue to build yourselves up in your most holy faith as you keep praying in the Holy Spirit. 21 Keep yourselves in God’s love as you continue to wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, which results in eternal life.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.