Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 44[a]
Past Glory and Present Need of God’s People
1 For the director.[b] A maskil of the sons of Korah.
2 [c]O God, we have heard with our ears,
our ancestors have told us,
of the deeds you performed in their days,
in the days of old.
3 To establish them in the land,
you drove out the nations with your own hand;
you crushed the peoples
so that our ancestors could flourish.
4 It was not their own swords that won them the land,
nor did their own arms make them victorious;
rather, it was your right hand and your arm
and the light of your face,[d]
because you loved them.
5 You are my[e] King and my God,
who bestowed victories upon Jacob.
6 Through you we throw back our enemies;
through your name[f] we crush our assailants.
7 It is not in my bow that I trust,
nor can my sword ensure my victory.
8 It is you who saved us from our enemies;
you scattered in confusion those who hate us.
9 In God we boast the whole day long,
and we will praise your name forever. Selah
10 [g]But now you have rejected and humiliated us,
and you no longer accompany our armies.[h]
11 You have forced us to retreat[i] before the enemy;
those who hate us plunder us unceasingly.
12 You have handed us over like sheep to be slaughtered
and scattered us among the nations.
13 You have sold your people for nothing,
receiving no gain from their sale.
14 You have subjected us to the contempt of our neighbors,
to the mockery and scorn of all who are near.
15 You have made us a byword to the nations;
the peoples shake their heads[j] at us.
16 All day long I am confronted by my disgrace,
and my face is covered with shame
17 as I hear the shouts of taunting and abuse
and see the hateful enemy seeking revenge.
18 All this has happened to us
even though we have not forgotten you
or been false to your covenant.[k]
19 Our hearts[l] have not turned back,
nor have our feet wandered from your path.
20 Yet you have crushed us,
forced us to live among the jackals,[m]
and covered us with darkness.
21 If we had forgotten the name[n] of our God
or lifted up our hands to a foreign god,
22 would not God have discovered it,
he who knows the secrets of the heart?
23 For your sake we are put to death all day long;
we are treated like sheep destined to be slaughtered.[o]
24 Awake, O Lord. Why[p] do you sleep?
Rise up, and do not abandon us forever.
25 Why do you hide your face[q]
and continue to ignore our misery and our sufferings?
26 We have been brought down to the dust;
our bodies cling to the ground.[r]
27 Rise up and come to our aid;
redeem us for the sake of your kindness.[s]
11 And for you also, O Judah,
a harvest of reprisal has been designated.[a]
Chapter 7
1 Whenever I decide to restore the fortunes of my people
and prepare to heal Israel,
the guilt of Ephraim confronts me
as well as the wicked deeds of Samaria.
They practice deceit;
thieves break into houses
while bandits plunder in the streets.[b]
2 But they somehow fail to remind themselves
that I remember all their wickedness.
I will not forget their wicked deeds;
they are constantly before my eyes.
The Conspirators
3 They delight the king with their wickedness
and the princes with their treachery.
4 All of them are adulterers;
they are like an oven all ablaze
whose fire the baker does not need to stoke
from the kneading of the dough until it has risen.
5 On the festal day of their king,
the princes become inflamed with wine
while the king extends his hand
to those who mock him.[c]
6 For they are heated like ovens
while their heart burns within them.
All through the night their passion slumbers;
in the morning it blazes forth like a flaming fire.
7 All of them are as hot as ovens,
and they consume their rulers.
All their kings have fallen;
not one of them calls out to me.
They Call upon Egypt, They Turn to Assyria
8 Ephraim mixes with the nations;
Ephraim is a half-baked cake.[d]
9 Foreigners have sapped his strength,
but he is unaware of it.
His hair is beginning to turn gray,
but he does not realize it.
10 Israel’s arrogance testifies against them,
but despite all this,
they do not return to the Lord, their God,
nor do they seek him.
11 Ephraim has become like a dove,
silly and without any sense.
They call upon Egypt;
they turn to Assyria.
12 Wherever they turn,
I will cast my net over them.
I will bring them down
like birds of the sky.
I will discipline them
because of their evil deeds.
13 Woe to them,
for they have strayed from me!
Destruction to them,
for they have rebelled against me!
I longed to redeem them,
but they continued to tell lies about me.
14 They have not cried out to me from their hearts
while they wailed upon their beds.
When they gash themselves to obtain grain and new wine,[e]
they are still rebelling against me.
15 Even though I supported and strengthened them,
they devise evil plots against me.
16 Everything they devise is of no avail;
they are like a defective bow.
Their leaders will fall by the sword
because of their insolent words.
As a result, they will be ridiculed
in the land of Egypt.
43 Love for Enemies.[a]“You have heard that it was said: ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. 45 This will make you children of your heavenly Father. For he causes his sun to rise on evil people as well as on those who are good, and his rain falls on both the righteous and the wicked. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward will you receive? Do not even tax collectors[b] do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brethren, what about that is so extraordinary? Even the pagans do as much.
48 Perfection.[c]“Therefore, strive to be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.
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