Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God, the Judge of the Righteous and the Wicked.
A Psalm of [a]Asaph.
50 (A)The Mighty One, God, the Lord, has spoken
And summoned the earth, (B)from [b]the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, (C)the perfection of beauty,
God (D)has shone.
3 May our God (E)come and not keep silent;
(F)Fire devours before Him,
And a storm is violently (G)raging around Him.
4 He (H)summons the heavens above,
And the earth, to judge His people:
5 “Gather My (I)godly ones to Me,
Those who have made a (J)covenant with Me by (K)sacrifice.”
6 And the (L)heavens declare His righteousness,
For (M)God Himself is judge. Selah
18 (A)For wickedness burns like a fire;
It consumes briars and thorns;
It also sets the thickets of the forest aflame
And they roll upward in a column of smoke.
19 By the (B)wrath of the Lord of armies the (C)land is burned,
And the (D)people are like fuel for the fire;
No (E)one spares his brother.
20 [a]They devour what is on the right hand but are still (F)hungry,
And [b]they eat what is on the left hand, but they are not satisfied;
Each of them eats the (G)flesh of his own arm.
21 Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,
(H)And together they are against Judah.
(I)In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away
And His hand is still stretched out.
Assyria Is God’s Instrument
10 Woe to those who (J)enact unjust statutes
And to those who constantly record [c]harmful decisions,
2 So as (K)to [d]deprive the needy of justice
And rob the poor among My people of their rights,
So (L)that widows may be their spoil
And that they may plunder the [e]orphans.
3 Now (M)what will you do in the (N)day of punishment,
And in the devastation which will come (O)from afar?
(P)To whom will you flee for help?
And where will you leave your wealth?
4 Nothing remains but to crouch [f]among the (Q)captives
Or fall [g]among those (R)killed.
(S)In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away
And His hand is still stretched out.
Stephen’s Defense
7 Now the high priest said, “Are these things so?”
2 And [a]Stephen said, “Listen to me, [b](A)brothers and fathers! (B)The God of glory (C)appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in [c]Haran, 3 and He said to him, ‘(D)Go from your country and your relatives, and come to the land which I will show you.’ 4 (E)Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in [d]Haran. And (F)from there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living. 5 But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and yet, (G)He promised that He would give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him, even though he had no child. 6 But (H)God spoke to this effect, that his descendants would be strangers in a land that was not theirs, and [e]they would enslave and mistreat them for four hundred years. 7 ‘And whatever nation to which they are enslaved I Myself will judge,’ said God, ‘and (I)after that they will come out and [f]serve Me in this place.’ 8 And He (J)gave him [g]the covenant of circumcision; and so (K)Abraham fathered Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and (L)Isaac fathered Jacob, and (M)Jacob, the twelve (N)patriarchs.
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