Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 44
For the Music Director. A Contemplative Maskil of the sons of Korah.
1 We have heard with our ears, O God,
our fathers have told us
what work You did in their days,
in the days of old:
2 how You drove out the nations with Your hand,
and planted others instead;
how You afflicted peoples,
and sent them away.
3 For they did not take possession of the land by their own sword,
nor did their own arm save them;
but it was Your right hand, and Your arm,
and the light of Your countenance, because You had favor on them.
4 You are my King, O God;
command deliverances for Jacob.
5 Through You we will push down our opponents;
through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us.
6 For I will not trust in my bow,
nor will my sword save me.
7 But You have saved us from our opponents,
and have put to shame those who hate us.
8 In God we boast all the day long,
and give thanks to Your name forever. Selah
9 But You have rejected us and put us to shame,
and do not go out with our armies.
10 You make us to turn back from the opponent,
and those who hate us make us their spoil.
11 You have placed us like sheep for prey,
and have scattered us among the nations.
12 You sell Your people for nothing,
and do not increase Your wealth by their sale.
13 You make us a reproach to our neighbors,
a scorn and a derision to those who surround us.
14 You make us a byword among the nations,
a shaking of the head among the people.
15 All day long my reproach is before me,
and the shame of my face covers me,
16 from the voice of him who reproaches and reviles,
by reason of the enemy and avenger.
17 All this is come on us,
yet we have not forgotten You,
nor have we dealt falsely in Your covenant.
18 Our heart is not turned back,
nor have our steps deviated from Your way,
19 though You have crushed us in the place of jackals,
and covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we have forgotten the name of our God,
or stretched out our hands to a strange god,
21 would not God search this out?
For He knows the secrets of the heart.
22 Yes, for Your sake we are killed all the day long;
we are considered like sheep for the slaughter.
23 Awake; why do You sleep, O Lord?
Arise; do not reject us forever.
24 Why do You hide Your face,
and forget our affliction and our oppression?
25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust;
our body cleaves to the earth.
26 Arise, be our help,
and redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness.
A Call to Repentance
6 Come, let us return to the Lord,
for He has torn,
and He will heal us.
He has struck,
and He will bind us up.
2 After two days He will revive us.
On the third day He will raise us up,
that we may live before Him.
3 Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord.
His appearance is as sure as the dawn.
He will come to us like the rain;
like the spring rains He will water the earth.
Impenitence of Israel and Judah
4 What shall I do to you, O Ephraim?
What shall I do to you, O Judah?
Your faithfulness is like a morning cloud,
and like the early dew it goes away.
5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets.
I have killed them by the words of My mouth,
and My[a] judgments go forth like light.
6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice,
and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
7 But like men[b] they have transgressed the covenant.
There they dealt faithlessly with Me.
8 Gilead is a city of evildoers,
polluted with blood.
9 As robbers lie in wait for someone,
so a company of priests
murder on the way to Shechem.
They commit a shameful deed.
10 I have seen a horrible thing
in the house of Israel.
The harlotry of Ephraim is there;
Israel is defiled.
Israel and the Gospel
30 What shall we say then? The Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith, 31 but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, did not attain the law of righteousness. 32 Why not? Because they did not seek it by faith, but by the works of the law. For they stumbled over the stumbling stone. 33 As it is written:
“Look! I lay in Zion a stumbling stone
and rock of offense,
and whoever believes in Him will not be ashamed.”[a]
10 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. 2 For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For, being ignorant of God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to the righteousness of God. 4 Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness for every one who believes.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.