Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Prayer for Help against the Sinful

7 O Lord my God, in You I have put my trust. Save me from all those who come for me, and keep me safe. ² Or they will tear me like a lion, carrying me away where there is no one to help. ³ O Lord my God, if I have done this, and there is guilt on my hands, ⁴ if I have done wrong to him who was at peace with me, or without a reason have robbed him who worked against me, ⁵ let him who hates me come for me and catch me. Let him break me under his feet until I die, and lay my honor in the dust.

⁶ Rise up in Your anger, O Lord. Rise up against the anger of those who hate me. Awake, my God, and help me. Prove what is right. ⁷ Let the people gather around You, and rule over them from Your throne. ⁸ May the Lord judge which people are guilty or not. O Lord, judge in my favor if I am right with You, and if I am without blame. ⁹ Let the sins of the sinful stop. But build up those who are right with You. For the God Who is right and good tests both the hearts and the minds. ¹⁰ I am kept safe by God, Who saves those who are pure in heart.

¹¹ God is always right in how He judges. He is angry with the sinful every day. ¹² If a man is not sorry for his sins and will not turn from them, God will make His sword sharp. He will string His bow and make it ready. ¹³ He takes up His sword and the bow of death. And He makes arrows of fire.

¹⁴ See how the sinful man thinks up sins and plans trouble and lies start growing inside him. ¹⁵ He has dug out a deep hole, and has fallen into the hole he has dug. ¹⁶ The trouble he makes will return to him. When he hurts others it will come down on his own head. ¹⁷ I will give thanks to the Lord because He is right and good. I will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.

Israel Did Not Learn

⁶ “I kept food from your teeth in all your cities. I did not let you have enough bread in all your places. Yet you have not returned to Me,” says the Lord. ⁷ “I kept the rain from you while there were still three months until gathering time. Then I would send rain on one city, but would send no rain on another city. One part would receive rain, while the part which did not receive rain would dry up. ⁸ People would go from city to city to drink water, but would not get enough. Yet you have not returned to Me,” says the Lord. ⁹ “I sent hot wind to dry up your fields. The locust destroyed your many gardens and grape-fields, fig trees and olive trees. Yet you have not returned to Me,” says the Lord. ¹⁰ “I sent a very bad disease upon you as I had done to Egypt. I killed your young men with the sword and took your horses away. I filled your nose with the bad smell of your camp. Yet you have not returned to Me,” says the Lord. ¹¹ “I destroyed some of you as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning stick pulled out of the fire. Yet you have not returned to Me,” says the Lord. ¹² “So I will do this to you, O Israel. And because I will do this to you, get ready to meet your God, O Israel.” ¹³ He is the One Who makes the mountains and the wind. He makes His thoughts known to man. He turns the morning into darkness, and walks on the high places of the earth. The Lord God of All is His name.

¹¹ This is what you have heard from the beginning, that we should love each other. ¹² Do not be like Cain. He was a child of the devil and killed his brother. Why did he kill him? It was because he did what was sinful and his brother did what was right.

¹³ Do not be surprised if the world hates you, Christian brothers. ¹⁴ We know we have passed from death into life. We know this because we love the Christians. The person who does not love has not passed from death into life. ¹⁵ A man who hates his brother is a killer in his heart. You know that life which lasts forever is not in one who kills.

¹⁶ We know what love is because Christ gave His life for us. We should give our lives for our brothers. ¹⁷ What if a person has enough money to live on and sees his brother in need of food and clothing? If he does not help him, how can the love of God be in him?