Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁵ O Lord, Your loving-kindness goes to the heavens. You are as faithful as the sky is high. ⁶ You are as right and good as mountains are big. You are as fair when You judge as a sea is deep. O Lord, You keep safe both man and animal. ⁷ Of what great worth is Your loving-kindness, O God! The children of men come and are safe in the shadow of Your wings. ⁸ They are filled with the riches of Your house. And You give them a drink from Your river of joy. ⁹ All life came from You. In Your light we see light.

¹⁰ Keep on giving Your loving-kindness to those who know You. Keep on being right and good to the pure in heart.

God Asks Israel to Turn from Its Sins

4 “If you will return, O Israel,” says the Lord, “return to Me. If you will put away your false gods from Me and be faithful to Me, ² and promise, ‘As the Lord lives,’ by what is true and right and good, then the nations will be happy in Him. And in Him they will have honor.”

³ For the Lord says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, “Break up your ground which has not been planted, and do not plant seeds among thorns. ⁴ Set yourselves apart to the Lord, and put away the flesh from your heart, men of Judah and people of Jerusalem. Or My anger will go out like fire and burn with no one to stop it, because of the sinful things you do.”

A Nation That Cannot Stand ^(A)

¹⁴ Jesus was putting a demon out of a man who could not speak. When the demon was gone, the man could speak. All the people were surprised and wondered about it. ¹⁵ Some of them said, “He puts out demons through Satan, the king of demons.” ¹⁶ Others tried to trap Jesus. They asked for something special to see from heaven. ¹⁷ But He knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every nation divided into groups that fight each other will be destroyed. Every family divided into groups that fight each other will not stand. ¹⁸ If Satan is divided against himself, how will his nation stand? And yet you say I put out demons through Satan! ¹⁹ If I put out demons through Satan, by whose help do your sons put them out? Your own sons will say if you are guilty or not. ²⁰ But if I put out demons by the power of God, then the holy nation of God has come to you.

²¹ “When a strong man watches his house and is ready to fight, his things are safe. ²² When a stronger man comes along, he wins the fight. He takes away all the things to fight with that the man of the house had put his trust in. Then the stronger man takes anything he wants from the house. ²³ Whoever is not with Me is against Me. Whoever does not gather with Me is sending them everywhere.