Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 25
A song of David.
1 ALWAYS I will lift up my soul to You, Eternal One,
2 BECAUSE You are my God and I put my trust in You.
Do not let me be humiliated.
Do not let my enemies celebrate at my expense.
3 CERTAINLY none of the people who rely on You will be shamed,
but those who are unfaithful, who intentionally deceive,
they are the ones who will be disgraced.
4 DEMONSTRATE Your ways, O Eternal One.
Teach me to understand so I can follow.
5 EASE me down the path of Your truth.
FEED me Your word
because You are the True God who has saved me.
I wait all day long, hoping, trusting in You.
6 GRACIOUS Eternal One, remember Your compassion; rekindle Your concern and love,
which have always been part of Your actions toward those who are Yours.
7 Do not HOLD against me the sins I committed when I was young;
instead, deal with me according to Your mercy and love.
Then Your goodness may be demonstrated in all the world, Eternal One.
8 IMMENSELY good and honorable is the Eternal;
that’s why He teaches sinners the way.
9 With JUSTICE, He directs the humble in all that is right,
and He shows them His way.
10 KIND and true are all the ways of the Eternal
to the people who keep His covenant and His words.
26 Even so, again they chose to defy You.
They rebelled.
They abandoned Your law.
They killed the prophets who spoke Your word,
who pleaded with them to return to You, God.
And again, atrocities multiplied on top of atrocities.
27 So You surrendered them to their enemies,
and Your people suffered at their hands.
And in pain, they cried out to You.
From heaven You listened,
And in keeping with Your changeless and compassionate character,
You sent them liberators,
Saviors who rescued them from their cruel adversaries.
28 As soon as they were at peace, they began to wander and abandoned You
and did evil things, so You abandoned them to their enemies.
Thus, once more, You allowed them to be conquered.
Somehow Your mercy is inexhaustible.
Once more You listened to them when they cried to You in heaven for help.
Over and over and over You intervened and saved Your people.
29 You also warned them to return to Your ways
and follow the laws You have given.
They arrogantly violated the very commands,
Which if they would obey them
then they would live by them.
Stubborn, they turned away from You,
tensed their necks, and stopped listening.
30 Year after year, Your patience endured.
Your Spirit animated prophets, and they spoke many warnings to them.
In not listening and turning away from the prophets,
they turned directly into their advancing enemies.
31 It was because of Your great mercy
that they were not completely annihilated or forsaken.
You are a grace-filled and mercy-laden God;
20 Here’s how you will know that the destruction of Jerusalem and her temple is imminent: Jerusalem will be surrounded by armies. 21 When that happens, there’s only one thing to do: if you’re in Judea, flee to the mountains; and if you’re inside the city, escape; and if you’re outside the city, stay there—don’t enter— 22 because the time has come for the promised judgment to fall. 23 How sad it will be for all the pregnant women, for all the nursing mothers in those days! All the land of Israel and all her people will feel the distress, the anger, falling on them like rain. 24 The sword will cut some down, the outsider nations will take others captive, and this holy city, this Jerusalem, will be trampled upon by the outsiders until their times are fulfilled.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.