Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Lament After a Defeat and a Prayer for Restoration
For the music director, according to Shushan Eduth.[a]
A miktam of David. To teach.
When he fought Mesopotamia and Aram Zobah, and Joab returned and struck Edom in the Valley of Salt, twelve thousand persons.[b]
60 O God, you have rejected us. You have broken us.
You have been angry. Restore us!
2 You have made the land quake. You have split it open.
Heal its fissures, because it totters.
3 You have shown your people hard things;
You have given us wine that staggers.
4 You have rallied those who fear you round a banner
out of bowshot,[c] Selah
5 so that your beloved ones may be rescued.
Save by your right hand and answer us.
6 God has spoken in his holiness,
“I will rejoice;
I will divide up Shechem,
and portion out the valley of Succoth.
7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine,
and Ephraim is the helmet for[d] my head;
Judah is my scepter.[e]
8 Moab is my washing pot;
over Edom, I will cast my sandal.
On account of me, O Philistia, raise a shout.”
9 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
10 Have not you yourself rejected us, O God,
and not gone out with our armies, O God?
11 Give us help against the adversary,
for the help of humankind is futile.
12 Through God we will do valiantly,[f]
and it is he who will tread down our enemies.
Israel’s History
12 [a] Ephraim has surrounded me with lies,[b]
and the house of Israel with deceit;
and Judah is still wandering with God
and is faithful to the Holy One.
12 Ephraim herds the wind[c]
and is pursuing the east wind all day long;
he multiplies deception and violence
and he[d] makes a treaty with Assyria,[e]
and oil is brought to Egypt.
2 Yahweh has a quarrel[f] with Judah
and will punish Jacob according to his ways
and repay him according to his deeds.
3 In the womb he deceived his brother,
and in his manhood he struggled with God.
4 He struggled with the angel and prevailed;
he pleaded for his mercy.
He met him at Bethel,
and there he spoke with him.[g]
5 Yahweh the God of hosts,
Yahweh is his renowned name!
6 But you, you must return to your God;
keep love and justice,
and wait continually for your God.
7 The trader, in his hand are scales of deceit;[h]
he loves to oppress.
8 And Ephraim said, “Surely, I am rich,
I gained[i] wealth for myself;
in all my toil they have not found guilt in me
that is sin.
9 But I am Yahweh your God
since[j] the land of Egypt;
I will make you live in tents again,
like the days of the appointed festival.
10 I spoke to the prophets;
I myself multiplied revelations[k]
and through the hand of the prophets I will destroy.
11 If in Gilead there is evil,
surely they will come to nothing.
In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls,
also their altars will be like stone heaps
on furrows of the field.
12 Jacob fled to the open field of Aram,[l]
and Israel served for a wife,
and for a wife he watched over sheep.
13 And by a prophet Yahweh brought
Israel up from Egypt,
and by a prophet
he[m] was watched over.
14 Ephraim has caused bitter provocation,
and his Lord will hold him responsible for his crimes[n]
and pay back to him his insults.
Mutual Responsibilities in Christian Relationships
18 Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing in the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, so that they will not become discouraged. 22 Slaves, obey your human[a] masters in everything, not while being watched[b], as people pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, accomplish it from the soul, as to the Lord, and not to people, 24 because you[c] know that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. Serve[d] the Lord Christ. 25 For the one who does wrong will receive back whatever wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.
4 Masters, grant your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you also have a master in heaven.
2012 by Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software