Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 55
My Friend Betrays Me
Heading
For the choir director. With stringed instruments. A maskil by David.
Opening Plea
1 Turn your ear to my prayer, O God.
Do not hide from my plea for mercy.
2 Pay attention to me and answer me.
The Problem
I am troubled in my thoughts and I groan
3 because of talk from the enemy,
because of oppression from the wicked,
because they dump evil on me,
and in anger they hold a grudge against me.
4 My heart is in anguish within me.
The terrors of death fall on me.
5 Fear and trembling come over me.
Horror covers me.
6 So I say, “I wish I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and find a place to rest.
7 Yes, I would flee far away. Interlude
I would stay in the wilderness.
8 I would hurry to find shelter,
far from the violent wind, far from the storm.”
9 Swallow them up, O Lord.
Confuse their speech,
for I see violence and contention in the city.
10 Day and night they sneak around on its walls.
Evil and trouble are in the city.
11 Destruction lurks within it.
Treachery and deceit never leave its streets.
12 For it is not an enemy who insults me—
I could bear that.
It is not someone who hated me who rises up against me—
I could hide from him.
13 But it is you, a man who served with me,
my colleague and my associate,
14 with whom I shared pleasant discussions
as we walked with the excited crowd at God’s house.
Plea for Judgment
15 Let deadly destruction come on them.
Let them go down to the grave alive,
because evil is at home in their hearts.
Round Two: Eliphaz’s Speech
15 Eliphaz the Temanite responded:
2 Does a wise man answer with windy bluster?
Does he fill his belly with the hot east wind?
3 Does he support his arguments with useless talk,
with words that provide no benefit?
4 But you even tear down reverence.
You hinder thoughtful reflection in the presence of God.
5 Your guilt instructs your mouth.
You choose deceptive language.
6 Your own mouth condemns you, not mine.
Your own lips testify against you.
7 Were you the first man to be born?
Were you brought forth before the hills?
8 Do you listen in on the council meetings of God?
Do you lay claim to all wisdom for yourself?
9 What do you know that we do not know as well?
What do you understand that we do not?
10 The gray-haired and the aged are on our side,
men older than your father.
11 Are the consolations of God too small for you?
Do you think nothing of the gentle words spoken to you?
12 Why does your heart carry you away?
Why do your eyes flash with such anger?
13 Why do you turn your spirit against God?
Why do you allow such words to pour out of your mouth?
14 What is man, that he could be pure,
or one born of woman, that he could be declared righteous?
15 If God does not trust in his holy ones,
and even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,
16 how much less man who is repulsive and corrupt,
who drinks down injustice like water!
17 Let me instruct you! Listen to me!
This is what I have seen. Let me tell you about it.
18 This is what wise men have declared,
wise men who hid nothing of what they had received from their fathers,
19 to whom alone the land was given,
at a time when no foreigners were present in their midst.
20 Through all his days, a wicked man writhes in pain,
throughout the whole number of years stored up for a tyrant.
21 Terrifying sounds echo in his ears.
In peacetime the plunderer arrives.
22 The wicked man does not believe that he will return from darkness.
He is sentenced to the sword.
23 He wanders around looking for food and asks, “Where is it?”[a]
He knows that a day of darkness is at hand.
24 Pressure and distress terrify him.
They overpower him, like a king ready to attack,
25 because he has stretched out his hand against God,
and he has been arrogant toward the Almighty.
26 He charges at him defiantly[b] with a thick shield.
27 Though now his face is covered with its fat,
and his hips bulge with lard,
28 he will live in ruined cities,
in abandoned houses, reduced to rubble.
29 He will no longer be rich.
His wealth will not last.
His possessions will no longer cover the ground.
30 He will not escape from darkness.
Flames will dry up his shoots.
With a breath from God’s mouth, he will depart.
31 He should not trust in useless things.
He should not fool himself.
His only reward will be useless things.
32 Before his time, he will be paid in full.
His palm branches will not be green.
33 His grapes will be shaken from the vine before they are ripe.
He will be like an olive tree that loses its blossoms.
34 In the end, the community of the godless produces nothing,
and fire consumes the tents of those who take bribes.
35 They conceive trouble and give birth to disaster.
Their womb produces treachery.
Lust
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’[a] 28 but I tell you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to fall into sin, pluck it out and throw it away from you. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 If your right hand causes you to fall into sin, cut it off and throw it away from you. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
Divorce
31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’[b] 32 But I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, causes her to be regarded as an adulteress. And whoever marries the divorced woman is regarded as an adulterer.
Oaths
33 “Again you have heard that it was said to people long ago, ‘Do not break your oaths, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’[c] 34 But I tell you, do not swear at all: not by heaven, because it is God’s throne; 35 and not by earth, because it is his footstool; and not by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not swear by your own head, since you cannot make one hair white or black.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.