Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Prayer for the Restoration of God’s Favor
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.
85 Lord, thou wast favorable to thy land;
thou didst restore the fortunes of Jacob.
2 Thou didst forgive the iniquity of thy people;
thou didst pardon all their sin. Selah
3 Thou didst withdraw all thy wrath;
thou didst turn from thy hot anger.
4 Restore us again, O God of our salvation,
and put away thy indignation toward us!
5 Wilt thou be angry with us for ever?
Wilt thou prolong thy anger to all generations?
6 Wilt thou not revive us again,
that thy people may rejoice in thee?
7 Show us thy steadfast love, O Lord,
and grant us thy salvation.
8 Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people,
to his saints, to those who turn to him in their hearts.[a]
9 Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him,
that glory may dwell in our land.
10 Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
11 Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky.
12 Yea, the Lord will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness will go before him,
and make his footsteps a way.
God Accuses Israel
4 Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel;
for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.
There is no faithfulness or kindness,
and no knowledge of God in the land;
2 there is swearing, lying, killing, stealing, and committing adultery;
they break all bounds and murder follows murder.
3 Therefore the land mourns,
and all who dwell in it languish,
and also the beasts of the field,
and the birds of the air;
and even the fish of the sea are taken away.
4 Yet let no one contend,
and let none accuse,
for with you is my contention, O priest.[a]
5 You shall stumble by day,
the prophet also shall stumble with you by night;
and I will destroy your mother.
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge;
because you have rejected knowledge,
I reject you from being a priest to me.
And since you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children.
7 The more they increased,
the more they sinned against me;
I will change their glory into shame.
8 They feed on the sin of my people;
they are greedy for their iniquity.
9 And it shall be like people, like priest;
I will punish them for their ways,
and requite them for their deeds.
10 They shall eat, but not be satisfied;
they shall play the harlot, but not multiply;
because they have forsaken the Lord
to cherish harlotry.
The Idolatry of Israel
11 Wine and new wine
take away the understanding.
12 My people inquire of a thing of wood,
and their staff gives them oracles.
For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray,
and they have left their God to play the harlot.
13 They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains,
and make offerings upon the hills,
under oak, poplar, and terebinth,
because their shade is good.
Therefore your daughters play the harlot,
and your brides commit adultery.
14 I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot,
nor your brides when they commit adultery;
for the men themselves go aside with harlots,
and sacrifice with cult prostitutes,
and a people without understanding shall come to ruin.
15 Though you play the harlot, O Israel,
let not Judah become guilty.
Enter not into Gilgal,
nor go up to Beth-a′ven,
and swear not, “As the Lord lives.”
16 Like a stubborn heifer,
Israel is stubborn;
can the Lord now feed them
like a lamb in a broad pasture?
15 In those days Peter stood up among the brethren (the company of persons was in all about a hundred and twenty), and said, 16 “Brethren, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David, concerning Judas who was guide to those who arrested Jesus. 17 For he was numbered among us, and was allotted his share in this ministry. 18 (Now this man bought a field with the reward of his wickedness; and falling headlong[a] he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. 19 And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language Akel′dama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20 For it is written in the book of Psalms,
‘Let his habitation become desolate,
and let there be no one to live in it’;
and
‘His office let another take.’
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.