Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Rescue the Weak and Needy
A Psalm of (A)Asaph.
82 (B)God (C)has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of (D)the gods he (E)holds judgment:
2 “How long will you judge unjustly
and (F)show partiality to (G)the wicked? Selah
3 (H)Give justice to (I)the weak and the fatherless;
(J)maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
4 (K)Rescue the weak and the needy;
(L)deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
5 (M)They have neither knowledge nor understanding,
(N)they walk about in darkness;
(O)all the foundations of the earth are (P)shaken.
Judgment on Judah
4 Thus says the Lord:
(A)“For three transgressions of Judah,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because (B)they have rejected the law of the Lord,
and have not kept his statutes,
but (C)their lies have led them astray,
those after which their fathers walked.
5 So (D)I will send a fire upon Judah,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.”
Judgment on Israel
6 Thus says the Lord:
(E)“For three transgressions of Israel,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because (F)they sell the righteous for (G)silver,
and the needy for a pair of sandals—
7 those who trample the head of the poor (H)into the dust of the earth
and (I)turn aside the way of the afflicted;
(J)a man and his father go in to the same girl,
so that my holy name is profaned;
8 they lay themselves down beside every altar
on garments (K)taken in pledge,
and in the house of their God they drink
the wine of those who have been fined.
9 “Yet (L)it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them,
(M)whose height was like the height of the cedars
and who was as strong as the oaks;
(N)I destroyed his fruit above
and his roots beneath.
10 (O)Also it was I who brought you up out of the land of Egypt
(P)and led you forty years in the wilderness,
(Q)to possess the land of the Amorite.
11 And I raised up some of your sons for prophets,
and some of your young men for (R)Nazirites.
Is it not indeed so, O people of Israel?”
declares the Lord.
9 “And the patriarchs, (A)jealous of Joseph, (B)sold him into Egypt; but (C)God was with him 10 and rescued him out of all his afflictions and (D)gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, (E)who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. 11 Now (F)there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. 12 (G)But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. 13 And (H)on the second visit (I)Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and (J)Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. 14 And (K)Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, (L)seventy-five persons in all. 15 And (M)Jacob went down into Egypt, and (N)he died, he (O)and our fathers, 16 and (P)they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that (Q)Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.