Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer for Help, and Praise for Its Answer.
A Psalm of David.
28 To You, O Lord, I call;
My (A)rock, do not be deaf to me,
For if You (B)are silent to me,
I will become like those who (C)go down to the pit.
2 Hear the (D)voice of my supplications when I cry to You for help,
When I (E)lift up my hands (F)toward [a]Your holy (G)sanctuary.
3 (H)Do not drag me away with the wicked
And with those who work iniquity,
Who (I)speak peace with their neighbors,
While evil is in their hearts.
4 Requite them (J)according to their work and according to the evil of their practices;
Requite them according to the deeds of their hands;
Repay them their [b]recompense.
5 Because they (K)do not regard the works of the Lord
Nor the deeds of His hands,
He will tear them down and not build them up.
6 Blessed be the Lord,
Because He (L)has heard the voice of my supplication.
7 The Lord is my (M)strength and my (N)shield;
My heart (O)trusts in Him, and I am helped;
Therefore (P)my heart exults,
And with (Q)my song I shall thank Him.
8 The Lord is [c]their (R)strength,
And He is a [d](S)saving defense to His anointed.
9 (T)Save Your people and bless (U)Your inheritance;
Be their (V)shepherd also, and (W)carry them forever.
29 Now Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; so he (A)tore his garments. 30 He returned to his brothers and said, “(B)The boy is not there; as for me, where am I to go?” 31 So (C)they took Joseph’s tunic, and slaughtered a male goat and dipped the tunic in the blood; 32 and they sent the varicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, “We found this; please [a]examine it to see whether it is your son’s tunic or not.” 33 Then he [b]examined it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. (D)A wild beast has devoured him; (E)Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!” 34 So Jacob (F)tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. 35 Then all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, “Surely I will (G)go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him. 36 Meanwhile, the [c]Midianites (H)sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s officer, the captain of the bodyguard.
4 For (A)if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and (B)committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare (C)the ancient world, but preserved (D)Noah, a [a]preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a (E)flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 and if He (F)condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an (G)example to those who would (H)live ungodly lives thereafter; 7 and if He (I)rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the (J)sensual conduct of (K)unprincipled men 8 (for by what he saw and heard that (L)righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), 9 (M)then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from [b]temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the (N)day of judgment, 10 and especially those who [c](O)indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and (P)despise authority.
Daring, (Q)self-willed, they do not tremble when they (R)revile angelic [d]majesties,
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.