Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 28

[A Psalm] of David.

¹ Unto You do I cry, O Lord my Rock, be not deaf and silent to me, lest, if You be silent to me, I become like those going down to the pit [the grave].

² Hear the voice of my supplication as I cry to You for help, as I lift up my hands toward Your innermost sanctuary (the Holy of Holies).

³ Drag me not away with the wicked, with the workers of iniquity, who speak peace with their neighbors, but malice and mischief are in their hearts.

⁴ Repay them according to their work and according to the wickedness of their doings; repay them according to the work of their hands; render to them what they deserve.^(A)

⁵ Because they regard not the works of the Lord nor the operations of His hands, He will break them down and not rebuild them.

⁶ Blessed be the Lord, because He has heard the voice of my supplications.

⁷ The Lord is my Strength and my [impenetrable] Shield; my heart trusts in, relies on, and confidently leans on Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song will I praise Him.

⁸ The Lord is their [unyielding] Strength, and He is the Stronghold of salvation to [me] His anointed.

⁹ Save Your people and bless Your heritage; nourish and shepherd them and carry them forever.

⁹ Therefore are justice and right far from us, and righteousness and salvation do not overtake us. We expectantly wait for light, but [only] see darkness; for brightness, but we walk in obscurity and gloom.

¹⁰ We grope for the wall like the blind, yes, we grope like those who have no eyes. We stumble at noonday as in the twilight; in dark places and among those who are full of life and vigor, we are as dead men.

¹¹ We all groan and growl like bears and moan plaintively like doves. We look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us.

¹² For our transgressions are multiplied before You [O Lord], and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know and recognize them [as]:

¹³ Rebelling against and denying the Lord, turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving in and muttering and moaning from the heart words of falsehood.

¹⁴ Justice is turned away backward, and righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God) stands far off; for truth has fallen in the street (the city’s forum), and uprightness cannot enter [the courts of justice].

¹⁵ Yes, truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice.

¹⁶ And He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor [no one to intervene on behalf of truth and right]; therefore His own arm brought Him victory, and His own righteousness [having the Spirit without measure] sustained Him.^(A)

¹⁷ For [the Lord] put on righteousness as a breastplate or coat of mail, and salvation as a helmet upon His head; He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal [and furious divine jealousy] as a cloak.^(B)

¹⁸ According as their deeds deserve, so will He repay wrath to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies; on the foreign islands and coastlands He will make compensation.

¹⁹ So [as the result of the Messiah’s intervention] they shall [reverently] fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him and put him to flight [for He will come like a rushing stream which the breath of the Lord drives].^(C)

2 So be done with every trace of wickedness (depravity, malignity) and all deceit and insincerity (pretense, hypocrisy) and grudges (envy, jealousy) and slander and evil speaking of every kind.

² Like newborn babies you should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire) the pure (unadulterated) spiritual milk, that by it you may be nurtured and grow unto [completed] salvation,

³ Since you have [already] tasted the goodness and kindness of the Lord.^(A)

⁴ Come to Him [then, to that] Living Stone which men ^[a]tried and threw away, but which is chosen [and] precious in God’s sight.^(B)

⁵ [Come] and, like living stones, be yourselves built [into] a spiritual house, for a holy (dedicated, consecrated) priesthood, to offer up [those] spiritual sacrifices [that are] acceptable and pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.

⁶ For thus it stands in Scripture: Behold, I am laying in Zion a chosen (^[b]honored), precious chief Cornerstone, and he who believes in Him [who adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Him] shall never be ^[c]disappointed or put to shame.^(C)

⁷ To you then who believe (who adhere to, trust in, and rely on Him) is the preciousness; but for those who disbelieve [it is true], The [very] Stone which the builders rejected has become the main Cornerstone,^(D)

⁸ And, A Stone that will cause stumbling and a Rock that will give [men] offense; they stumble because they disobey and disbelieve [God’s] Word, as those [who reject Him] were destined (appointed) to do.

⁹ But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation, [God’s] own ^[d]purchased, special people, that you may set forth the wonderful deeds and display the virtues and perfections of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.^(E)

¹⁰ Once you were not a people [at all], but now you are God’s people; once you were unpitied, but now you are pitied and have received mercy.^(F)