Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God Himself Is Judge
A Psalm of (A)Asaph.
50 (B)The Mighty One, God the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
(C)from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, (D)the perfection of beauty,
(E)God shines forth.
3 Our God comes; he (F)does not keep silence;[a]
before him is a devouring (G)fire,
around him a mighty tempest.
4 (H)He calls to the heavens above
and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 “Gather to me my faithful ones,
who made (I)a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
6 (J)The heavens declare his righteousness,
for (K)God himself is judge! Selah
18 For wickedness burns like (A)a fire;
it consumes briers and thorns;
it kindles the thickets of the forest,
and they roll upward in a column of smoke.
19 Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts
the land is scorched,
and (B)the people are like fuel for the fire;
(C)no one spares another.
20 (D)They slice meat on the right, but are still hungry,
and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied;
(E)each devours the flesh of his own arm,
21 Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh;
together they are (F)against Judah.
(G)For all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.
10 Woe to those who (H)decree iniquitous decrees,
and the writers who (I)keep writing oppression,
2 to turn aside the needy from justice
and (J)to rob the poor of my people of their right,
that widows may be their spoil,
and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
3 What will you do on (K)the day of punishment,
in the ruin that will come (L)from afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
and where will you leave your wealth?
4 Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners
or fall among the slain.
(M)For all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.
Stephen's Speech
7 And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2 And Stephen said:
(A)“Brothers and fathers, hear me. (B)The God (C)of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, (D)before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, (E)‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ 4 (F)Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And (G)after his father died, (H)God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 5 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised (I)to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, (J)though he had no child. 6 And God spoke to this effect—that (K)his offspring would (L)be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them (M)four hundred years. 7 ‘But (N)I will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out (O)and worship me in this place.’ 8 And (P)he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And (Q)so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and (R)circumcised him on the eighth day, and (S)Isaac became the father of Jacob, and (T)Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.