Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 7[a]
Appeal to the Divine Judge
1 A plaintive song of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush,[b] a Benjaminite.
2 O Lord, my God, I take refuge in you;
keep me safe from all my pursuers and deliver me,
3 lest like a lion they tear me to pieces
and carry me off, with no one to rescue me.
4 O Lord, my God, if I have done this,
if my hands are stained with guilt,
5 if I have repaid a friend with treachery—
I who spared the lives of those who without cause were my enemies—[c]
6 then let my foe pursue and overtake me;
let him trample my life into the ground
and leave my honor in the dust. Selah
7 Rise up, O Lord, in your indignation;
rise against the fury of my enemies.
Rouse yourself for me,
and fulfill the judgment you have decreed.
8 Let the peoples assemble in your presence
as you sit above them enthroned on high.
9 The Lord is the judge of the nations.
Therefore, pass judgment on me, O Lord, according to my righteousness,
according to my innocence, O Most High.
10 Put an end to the malice of the wicked
but continue to sustain the righteous,
O God of justice,
you who search minds and hearts.[d]
11 God is a shield to me;
he saves those who are upright of heart.
12 God is a just judge,
a God who expresses his indignation every day.
13 When a sinner refuses to repent,
God sharpens his sword,
and he bends and aims his bow.
14 He has prepared deadly weapons for him
and made his arrows into fiery shafts.
15 [e]Behold, he who conceives iniquity
and is pregnant with mischief
will give birth to lies.
16 He digs a pit and makes it deep,
but he will fall into the trap he has made.
17 His wickedness will recoil upon his own head,
and his violence will fall back on his own crown.
18 I will offer thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness,
and I will sing hymns of praise[f] to the name of the Lord Most High.
Violence and Pillage in Their Palace
9 Proclaim this from the
palaces of Ashdod
and from the palaces of the land of Egypt:
“Assemble on the hills of Samaria
and observe the great disorders there,
as well as the oppression in her midst.”
10 For they do not know how to do what is right,
says the Lord,
as they store up in their palaces
their ill-gotten gains from violence and robbery.
11 Therefore, this is what the Lord God has to say:
An enemy shall surround your land;
he will tear down your strongholds
and pillage your palaces.
12 The Lord says further:
As the shepherd rescues from the jaws of a lion
two legs or the tip of an ear,
so will the Israelites who live in Samaria be rescued
with the corner of a couch or the edge of a cot.
I Will Deal with the Altars of Bethel
13 Listen and testify against the house of Jacob, says the Lord God, the God of hosts:
14 On the day when I punish Israel for its crimes,
I will also deal with the altars of Bethel:
the horns of the altar shall be hacked off
and fall to the ground.
15 I shall destroy the winter house
as well as the summer house.
The houses of ivory will perish,
and many mansions will be no more,
says the Lord.
Chapter 4
The Second Word
1 Listen to this warning, you cows of Bashan,
you women who dwell on the mount of Samaria,
you who oppress the weak and crush the needy,
who command your husbands, “Bring us something to drink!”
2 The Lord God has sworn by his holiness:
The time is surely coming upon you
when you will be dragged away with hooks,
and the last of you with fishhooks.
3 Through breaches in the wall you will leave
each one straight ahead,
and you shall be flung out atop a dungheap,
says the Lord.
Run to Your Sanctuary
4 Come to Bethel and sin!
Come to Gilgal and sin even more!
Bring your sacrifices every morning,
your tithes every third day.
5 Burn your thank offering of leavened bread,
and brag publicly about your free-will offerings.
For this is what you love to do,
O children of Israel, says the Lord God.
Chapter 2
Rich and Poor in the Christian Assembly.[a] 1 My brethren, since you are believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, you must never practice favoritism. 2 Suppose a man wearing a gold ring and expensive clothes comes into your assembly as well as a poor man dressed in shabby clothes. 3 If you lavish special attention on the one wearing the expensive clothes and say, “Please sit in this good seat,” while to the poor man you say, “Stand over there,” or “Sit on the floor at my feet,” 4 have you not shown favoritism among yourselves and judged by wrongful standards?
5 Listen to me, my beloved brethren. Did not God choose those who are poor[b] in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him? 6 But you have humiliated the poor man. Furthermore, is it not the rich who oppress you? Are they not the ones who drag you into court? 7 Is it not they who blaspheme the noble name that was invoked over you?
Copyright © 2019 by Catholic Book Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.