Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Plea for Vindication
Psalm 17
1 A prayer of David.
Hear, Adonai, a just plea, listen to my cry!
Give ear to my prayer—from lips with no deceit.
2 From Your presence comes my vindication.
Your eyes see what is right.
3 You have examined my heart.
You searched me at night.
Though You test me, You find nothing.
I resolved that my mouth will not sin.
4 As for the deeds of mankind—
by the word of Your lips
I have kept out of the ways of the violent.
5 My steps have kept on Your paths.
My feet have not slipped.
6 I called upon You, O God,
for You will answer me.
Incline Your ear to me,
hear my speech.
7 Be wonderful with Your lovingkindness,
O Savior of those taking refuge at Your right hand
from those rising up against them.
8 Protect me like the pupil of the eye.
Hide me in the shadow of Your wings,
9 from the wicked who attack me—
my enemies, who surround me.
10 Their callous heart they shut tight.
With their mouth they speak proudly.
11 Our steps are now surrounded.
They set their eyes to throw us down to the ground,
12 like a lion eager to tear to pieces,
like a young lion crouching in cover.
13 Arise, Adonai! Confront him!
Make him bow down!
Deliver my soul from the wicked with Your sword,
14 from men, with Your hand, Adonai,
from men of the world whose portion is in this life.
You fill their belly with Your treasure
—with plenty of children—
and leave their surplus to their babes.
15 I in righteousness will behold Your face!
When I awake,
I will be satisfied with Your likeness.
Joshua the Kohen Gadol
3 Then he showed me Joshua the kohen gadol standing before the angel of Adonai and the satan[a], standing at his right hand to accuse him. [b] 2 Adonai said to the satan, ‘Adonai rebukes you, the satan. Indeed Adonai, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you.[c] Is not this man a brand plucked out of the fire?’
3 Now Joshua was wearing filthy garments and standing before the angel 4 who answered and spoke to those standing before him saying, ‘Remove the filthy garments from him.’ Then to Joshua he said, ‘See, I have removed your iniquity from you and will dress you with fine clothing.’[d]
5 Then I said, ‘Place a clean turban on his head.’
So they put a pure turban on his head and clothed him with garments while the angel of Adonai stood by.
6 The angel of Adonai exhorted Joshua saying:
7 ‘Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, “If you will walk in My ways and keep My charge, then you will judge My House and watch over My courts and I will give you a place to walk among these standing here. 8 Listen well, Joshua kohen gadol, both you and your companions seated before you, because they are men who are a sign—behold, I will bring forth My servant the Branch. 9 For behold! The stone I have laid before Joshua is one stone with seven facets. On it I will engrave an inscription,” declares Adonai-Tzva’ot, “that I will remove the iniquity of this land in one day. 10 In that day,” declares Adonai-Tzva’ot, “every man will invite his neighbor to sit under the vine and under the fig tree.’”
4 For God did not spare angels when they sinned, but threw them into Sheol.[a] He put them in chains of gloomy darkness, to be held until the judgment. [b] 5 He did not spare the ancient world. He preserved only Noah, a proclaimer of righteousness, along with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly. 6 He devastated the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, reducing them to ashes[c]—making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly. 7 He rescued Lot, a righteous man deeply troubled by the shameless immorality of the wicked. [d] 8 (For that righteous man, while living among them, was tormented in his righteous soul day after day by lawless deeds he saw and heard.) 9 Therefore the Lord certainly knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and how to keep the unrighteous being punished until the Day of Judgment— 10 especially those who follow after the flesh in its unclean desires and who despise the Lord’s authority.[e]
Brazen and arrogant, these people do not tremble while slandering glorious beings; 11 yet even angels, though stronger and more powerful, do not bring a slanderous charge against them before the Lord. [f] 12 But these people are like irrational animals—creatures of instinct born to be captured and killed. They malign what they don’t understand, and in their destruction they will be utterly destroyed. 13 They will be paid back for what they have done—evil for evil.[g] They consider carousing in broad daylight a pleasure. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceitful pleasures while feasting together with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery that never stop sinning, enticing unstable souls. They have hearts trained in greed—a cursed brood! 15 They have abandoned the straight way. They have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor,[h] who loved the wages of wickedness. 16 But he received a rebuke for his own wrongdoing. A dumb donkey spoke with a man’s voice and put a stop to the prophet’s madness.[i]
17 These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. The gloom of utter darkness has been reserved for them. [j] 18 For by mouthing grandiosities that amount to nothing, they entice in sensual fleshly passions those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption—for a person is a slave to whatever has overcome him. 20 For if—after escaping the world’s pollutions through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Yeshua the Messiah—they again become entangled in these things and are overcome, the end for them has become worse than the beginning. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after learning about it, to turn back from the holy commandment passed on to them.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.