Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 22[a]
For the music director, according to the tune “Morning Doe”;[b] a psalm of David.
22 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?[c]
I groan in prayer, but help seems far away.[d]
2 My God, I cry out during the day,
but you do not answer,
and during the night my prayers do not let up.[e]
3 You are holy;
you sit as king receiving the praises of Israel.[f]
4 In you our ancestors[g] trusted;
they trusted in you[h] and you rescued them.
5 To you they cried out, and they were saved;
in you they trusted and they were not disappointed.[i]
6 But I[j] am a worm,[k] not a man;[l]
people insult me and despise me.[m]
7 All who see me taunt[n] me;
they mock me[o] and shake their heads.[p]
8 They say,[q]
“Commit yourself[r] to the Lord!
Let the Lord[s] rescue him!
Let the Lord[t] deliver him, for he delights in him.”[u]
9 Yes, you are the one who brought me out[v] from the womb
and made me feel secure on my mother’s breasts.
10 I have been dependent on you since birth;[w]
from the time I came out of my mother’s womb you have been my God.[x]
11 Do not remain far away from me,
for trouble is near and I have no one to help me.[y]
12 Many bulls[z] surround me;
powerful bulls of Bashan[aa] hem me in.
13 They[ab] open their mouths to devour me[ac]
like a roaring lion that rips its prey.[ad]
14 My strength drains away like water;[ae]
all my bones are dislocated.
My heart[af] is like wax;
it melts away inside me.
15 The roof of my mouth[ag] is as dry as a piece of pottery;
my tongue sticks to my gums.[ah]
You[ai] set me in the dust of death.[aj]
17 My spirit is broken,[a]
my days have faded out,[b]
the grave[c] awaits me.
2 Surely mockery[d] is with me;[e]
my eyes must dwell on their hostility.[f]
3 Set my pledge[g] beside you.
Who else will put up security for me?[h]
4 Because[i] you have closed their[j] minds to understanding,
therefore you will not exalt them.[k]
5 If a man denounces his friends for personal gain,[l]
the eyes of his children will fail.
6 He has made me[m] a byword[n] to people,
I am the one in whose face they spit.[o]
7 My eyes have grown dim[p] with grief;
my whole frame[q] is but a shadow.
8 Upright men are appalled[r] at this;
the innocent man is troubled[s] with the godless.
9 But the righteous man holds to his way,
and the one with clean hands grows stronger.[t]
Anticipation of Death
10 “But turn, all of you,[u] and come[v] now![w]
I will not find a wise man among you.
11 My days have passed, my plans[x] are shattered,
even[y] the desires[z] of my heart.
12 These men[aa] change[ab] night into day;
they say,[ac] ‘The light is near
in the face of darkness.’[ad]
13 If[ae] I hope for the grave to be my home,
if I spread out my bed in darkness,
14 if I cry out[af] to corruption,[ag] ‘You are my father,’
and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
15 where then[ah] is my hope?
And my hope,[ai] who sees it?
16 Will[aj] it[ak] go down to the barred gates[al] of death?
Will[am] we descend[an] together into the dust?”
Exposition of Psalm 95: Hearing God’s Word in Faith
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,[a]
“Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks![b]
8 “Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness.
9 “There your fathers tested me and tried me,[c] and they saw my works for forty years.
10 “Therefore, I became provoked at that generation and said, ‘Their hearts are always wandering[d] and they have not known my ways.’
11 “As I swore in my anger, ‘They will never enter my rest!’”[e]
12 See to it,[f] brothers and sisters,[g] that none of you has[h] an evil, unbelieving heart that forsakes[i] the living God.[j] 13 But exhort one another each day, as long as it is called “Today,” that none of you may become hardened by sin’s deception. 14 For we have become partners with Christ, if in fact we hold our initial confidence[k] firm until the end. 15 As it says,[l] “Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks![m] Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”[n] 16 For which ones heard and rebelled? Was it not all who came out of Egypt under Moses’ leadership?[o] 17 And against whom was God[p] provoked for forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness?[q] 18 And to whom did he swear they would never enter into his rest, except those who were disobedient? 19 So[r] we see that they could not enter because of unbelief.
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