Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God Is My Strong Tower
Psalm 59
1 For the music director: “Do Not Destroy,” a Michtam of David, when Saul sent men to watch the house to kill him.
2 Deliver me from my enemies, my God!
Set me on high,
away from those who rise up against me.
3 Deliver me from workers of iniquity.
Rescue me from bloodthirsty men.
4 For behold, they lie in wait for me.
Defiant men stir up strife against me—
not for my transgression or sin, Adonai.
5 For no guilt of mine, they run and set things up.
Awake! Help me! Look!
6 For You are Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel!
Rouse Yourself to punish all the nations.
Show no mercy to any iniquitous traitors. Selah
7 They return at evening, snarling like a dog,
prowling about the city.
8 See, they are spewing with their mouth
—swords in their lips—
“After all, who is listening?”
9 But You, Adonai, are laughing at them.
You scoff at all the nations.
10 O my strength, I watch for You—
for God is my strong tower.
11 My God in His lovingkindness will go before me.
God will let me look down on my foes.
12 Do not slay them, lest my people forget.
With Your power shake them
and bring them down, O Lord our shield.
13 The sin of their mouth is the words of their lips.
So let them be caught in their pride,
and for uttering a curse and a lie.
14 Consume them in wrath,
consume them till they are no more.
Let them know that God rules over Jacob to the ends of the earth. Selah
15 They return at evening, snarling like a dog,
prowling about the city.
16 They wander around for food.
If they are not full, they stay up all night.
17 But I—I sing of Your strength!
Yes, in the morning I sing aloud of Your lovingkindness.
For You have been my fortress,
a refuge in the day of my trouble.
18 O my strength, to You I sing praises.
For God is my strong tower—
my God of lovingkindness.
14 So Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. Now Joram had been defending Ramoth-gilead, he and all Israel, against King Hazael of Aram. 15 But King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds that the Arameans had inflicted on him, when he fought with King Hazael of Aram. Then Jehu said, “If this is your wish, then let no one escape and go out of the city to go to tell the news in Jezreel.”
16 So Jehu mounted a chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram was lying there. Meanwhile, King Ahaziah of Judah came down to see Joram. 17 Now the watchman stationed on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu’s troop approaching and said, “I am seeing a troop.”
Then Joram said, “Take a horseman and dispatch him to meet them, and let him ask: ‘Is it peace?’” 18 So the horse rider went to meet him, and said, “Thus says the king: ‘Is it peace?’” But Jehu said, “What do you have to do with peace? Turn behind me.”
So the watchman reported, saying, “The messenger reached them, but didn’t come back.” 19 Then he dispatched out another horseman, who went to them and said, “Thus says the king: ‘Is it peace?’” But Jehu answered, “What do you have to do with peace? Turn behind me.”
20 So the watchman reported, saying, “He reached them, but didn’t come back—and the driving is like the driving of Jehu son of Nimshi, for he is driving on like a maniac!”
21 Then Joram ordered, “Hitch up the chariot!” So he hitched up his chariot. Then King Joram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah went out each in his chariot to meet Jehu, and found him at the field of Naboth the Jezreelite. 22 Now when Joram saw Jehu, he asked, “Is it peace, Jehu?”
So he answered, “What peace, so long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?”
23 So Joram turned his horses around and fled, crying out to Ahaziah, “Treason, Ahaziah!”
24 But Jehu drew his bow with his full strength and shot Joram between his arms, and the arrow went out through his heart, and he collapsed in his chariot. 25 Then he said to Bidkar his aide, “Pick him up and throw him on the property of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite. Remember how you and I were riding together behind Ahab his father, when Adonai took up this burden against him: 26 ‘As surely as I have seen the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday—it is a declaration of Adonai—I will repay you on this property—it is a declaration of Adonai.’ So now pick him up and throw him onto the property, just as in the word of Adonai.”
Jew and Gentile, One in Messiah
11 Therefore, keep in mind that once you—Gentiles in the flesh—were called “uncircumcision” by those called “circumcision” (which is performed on flesh by hand). 12 At that time you were separate from Messiah, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Messiah Yeshua, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah. 14 For He is our shalom, the One who made the two into one and broke down the middle wall of separation. Within His flesh He made powerless the hostility— 15 the law code of mitzvot contained in regulations. He did this in order to create within Himself one new man from the two groups, making shalom, 16 and to reconcile both to God in one body through the cross—by which He put the hostility to death. 17 And He came and proclaimed shalom to you who were far away and shalom to those who were near[a]— 18 for through Him we both have access to the Father by the same Ruach. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household. 20 You have been built on the foundation made up of the emissaries and prophets, with Messiah Yeshua Himself being the cornerstone. [b] 21 In Him the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple for the Lord. 22 In Him, you also are being built together into God’s dwelling place[c] in the Ruach.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.