Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
He Lowers One and Lifts Another
Psalm 75
1 For the music director: “Do not Destroy,” a psalm of Asaph, a song.
2 We praise You, we praise God,
for Your Name is near.
People declare Your wonders.
3 “When I appoint a set time,
I Myself will judge uprightly.
4 When the earth wavers with living on it,
I Myself hold its pillars firm. Selah
5 I say to the arrogant, ‘No more boasting!’
And to the wicked,
‘Do not be lifting up your horn.’
6 Do not lift your horn up high.
Do not speak with outstretched neck.”
7 For exaltation comes
not from the east nor from the west,
nor even from the desert.
8 For God is the Judge:
He lowers one and lifts up another.
9 For in the hand of Adonai is a cup of foaming wine mixed with spices,
and He pours it out.
Surely all the wicked of the earth will drink,
draining it down to the dregs.[a]
10 But I—I will declare it forever,
I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.
11 I will cut off all the horns of the wicked,
but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.
15 When the sons of the prophets at Jericho saw him some way off, they said, “The spirit of Elijah has rested on Elisha.” So they came to meet him and bowed down to the ground before him. 16 Then they said to him, “Behold now, there are 50 strong men with your servants. Please let them go and search for your master. Perhaps the Ruach Adonai has taken him up and cast him onto some mountain or into some valley.”
But he said, “Don’t send them.” 17 But when they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, “Send them.” So they sent 50 men. Though they searched for three days, they did not find him. 18 When they came back to him while he staying in Jericho, he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?”
19 Then the men of the city said to Elisha, “Look now, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees, but the water is bad and the land barren.”
20 He responded, “Bring me a new jar, and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. 21 Then he went out to the spring of water, threw salt in it and said, “Thus says Adonai, I have healed this water. No longer will there be from there death or barrenness.” 22 So the waters were healed to this day, according to the word that Elisha spoke.
Haters Stumble in Darkness
7 Loved ones, I am not writing a new commandment for you, but an old commandment—one you had from the beginning. This old commandment is the word you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing a new commandment for you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is fading and the true light is already shining.
9 The one who says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in the darkness. 10 The one who loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother[a] is in the darkness and walks in the darkness. He doesn’t know where he is going, because the darkness has made his eyes blind.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.