Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 85[a]
Prayer for the People’s Salvation
1 For the director.[b] A psalm of the sons of Korah.
2 O Lord, you showed favor to your land;
you restored the good fortune of Jacob.[c]
3 You forgave the iniquity of your people;
you canceled all their sins. Selah
4 You cast aside all your wrath;
you put an end to your great anger.
5 [d]Restore us once again, O God, our Savior,
and cease your displeasure toward us.
6 Will you remain angry with us forever?
Will you hold onto your wrath for all generations?
7 Will you not once again give us life
so that your people may exult in you?
8 Show us, O Lord, your kindness[e]
and grant us your salvation.
9 [f]I will listen for God’s response;
surely the Lord will proclaim peace to his people, his saints,[g]
to those who turn to him with their whole heart.
10 His salvation is indeed near for those who fear him;
his glory[h] will dwell in our land.
11 [i]Kindness and faithfulness[j] will meet;
righteousness and peace will embrace.
12 Faithfulness will spring forth from the earth,
and righteousness[k] will look down from heaven.
13 [l]The Lord will grant us prosperity,[m]
and our land will yield its harvest.
14 Righteousness will go forth in front of him,
and he will set us on the way he treads.
God Puts an Adulterous People on Trial
Chapter 4
A Deep Corruption of Morals
1 Hear the word of the Lord,
people of Israel,
for the Lord has decreed an indictment
against the inhabitants of the land.
There is no faithfulness or loyalty,
nor any knowledge of God in the land.
2 Instead, people swear oaths and break them;
they lie, murder, steal, and commit adultery,
with never-ceasing bloodshed.
3 Therefore, the land is in mourning,
and all who dwell in it languish,
including the wild beasts and the birds of the air;
even the fish of the sea are perishing.
My Quarrel Is with You, O Priests
4 But let no one protest
or make accusations;
my quarrel is with you, O priests.
5 You shall stumble in the daylight,
while the prophets will stumble with you at night,
and I will destroy your mother.
6 My people are perishing
for want of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
I will reject you as my priests.
And since you have forsaken the law of your God,
I will also reject your children.
7 The more the number of priests increased,
the more they sinned against me,
turning their glory into shame.
8 They feed on the sins of my people;
they are insatiable in their hunger for iniquity.
9 The priests and the people will share the same fate;
I shall punish them for their conduct
and repay them for their deeds.
10 They will eat but never be satisfied;
they will engage in prostitution but never have children,
because they have abandoned the Lord
11 to devote themselves to immorality.
Idolatry and Debauchery
Wine, both old and new,
deprives my people of understanding.
12 They consult a piece of wood for advice,
and their divining rod[a] provides the answers they seek.
For a spirit of promiscuity has led them astray,
and their immorality causes them to forsake their God.
13 They offer sacrifice on the mountaintops
and burn incense on the hills,
beneath oak and poplar and terebinth
because the shade they afford is pleasant.
14 I shall not punish your daughters for becoming prostitutes
or your daughters-in-law for committing adultery.
For your men themselves consort with harlots
and offer sacrifice with temple prostitutes;
a people thus devoid of understanding is doomed.
15 Though you, O Israel, play the whore,
do not allow Judah to incur such guilt.
Do not come to Gilgal
or go up to Beth-aven,
and do not swear, “As the Lord lives!”[b]
16 For Israel is as stubborn as a heifer;
will the Lord now feed them
like lambs in a broad meadow?
17 Ephraim has associated with idols;
let them alone.
18 When their drinking binge has ended,
they indulge in sexual orgies,
preferring lewdness to their glory.
19 The wind has carried them off in its wings,
and their sacrifices will only bring them shame.
15 The Choice of Judas’s Successor.[a] In those days, Peter stood up before the assembled brothers, numbering about one hundred and twenty, and said, 16 “Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled that the Holy Spirit revealed through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus. 17 He was one of our number and was granted a share in this ministry.
18 “With the money from his traitorous act, this man purchased a plot of land upon which he fell headlong, and he burst open, all of his entrails pouring out. 19 The news about this became known to all the people living in Jerusalem, so that in their own language that plot of land was called ‘Hakeldama,’ which means ‘Field of Blood.’[b] 20 For it is written in the Book of Psalms,
‘May his encampment become deserted,
and may there be no one to dwell in it.’
And again,
‘Let another take over his position.’
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