Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 74
A Contemplative Maskil of Asaph.
1 O God, why have You cast us off forever?
Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?
2 Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old,
the rod of Your inheritance, which You have redeemed,
this Mount Zion, where You have lived.
3 Move Your footsteps to the perpetual desolations,
to all the harm the enemy has done in the sanctuary.
4 Your enemies roar in the midst of Your meeting place;
they set up their miracles for signs.
5 They seem like men who lift up axes
on a thicket of trees.
6 But now they strike down its carved work altogether
with axes and hammers.
7 They have cast fire into Your sanctuary;
they have defiled the dwelling place of Your name to the ground.
8 They said in their hearts, “Let us destroy them together.”
They have burned up all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 We do not see our signs;
there is no longer any prophet,
nor is there among us any who knows how long.
10 O God, how long will the adversary scorn?
Will the enemy blaspheme Your name forever?
11 Why do You withdraw Your hand, Your right hand?
Draw it out of Your bosom and destroy them!
12 For God is my King of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 You divided the sea by Your strength;
You broke the heads of the dragons on the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan in pieces,
and gave him for food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 You split the fountain and the flood;
You dried up ever-flowing rivers.
16 The day is Yours, the night also is Yours;
You have prepared the light and the sun.
17 You have established all the borders of the earth;
You have made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, that the enemy has scorned, O Lord,
and that the foolish people have blasphemed Your name.
19 Do not give the life of Your turtledove to a wild animal;
do not forget the life of Your poor forever.
20 Have regard for the covenant;
for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.
21 May the oppressed not return ashamed;
may the poor and needy praise Your name.
22 Arise, O God, plead Your own cause;
remember how the fool insults You daily.
23 Do not forget the voice of Your enemies,
the tumult of those who rise up against You continually.
Woes and Judgment
8 Woe to those who join house to house,
who add field to field,
until there is no more space
where they may live alone in the midst of the land!
9 In my ears the Lord of Hosts said:
Truly, many houses shall be desolate,
even great and beautiful, without inhabitants.
10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath,[a]
and the homer[b] of seed shall yield an ephah.[c]
11 Woe to those who rise up early in the morning
that they may pursue strong drink;
who continue late in the evening
until wine inflames them!
12 The lyre and the harp, the tambourine and pipe,
and wine are in their feasts;
but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord,
or consider the work of His hands.
13 Therefore My people go into captivity
because they have no knowledge;
and their honorable men are famished,
and their multitude dried up with thirst.
14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged itself
and opened its mouth without measure;
so their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp,
and he who rejoices shall descend into it.
15 The common man shall be brought down,
and the great man shall be humbled,
and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled.
16 But the Lord of Hosts shall be exalted in judgment,
and God who is holy shall be hallowed in righteousness.
17 Then the lambs shall feed in their pasture,
and strangers shall eat in the waste places of the wealthy.
18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood
and sin as if with a cart rope,
19 who say, “Let Him make speed
and hasten His work,
that we may see it;
and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel
draw near and come,
that we may know it!”
20 Woe to those who call evil good,
and good evil;
who exchange darkness for light,
and light for darkness;
who exchange bitter for sweet,
and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and prudent in their own sight!
22 Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine,
and men of strength to mingle strong drink,
23 who justify the wicked for a reward,
and take away the justice of the righteous from him!
Test the Spirits
4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and is already in the world.
4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are of the world, and therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are of God, and whoever knows God listens to us. Whoever is not of God does not listen to us. This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.