Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent
71 (A)In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame!
2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me, and save me!
3 Be to me a rock of (B)refuge,
to which I may continually come;
you have (C)given the command to save me,
for you are my (D)rock and my fortress.
Impending Disaster for Jerusalem
6 Flee for safety, (A)O people of Benjamin,
from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in (B)Tekoa,
and raise a signal on (C)Beth-haccherem,
for disaster looms (D)out of the north,
and great destruction.
2 The lovely and delicately bred I will destroy,
(E)the daughter of Zion.[a]
3 (F)Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her;
(G)they shall pitch their tents around her;
they shall pasture, each in his place.
4 (H)“Prepare war against her;
arise, and let us attack (I)at noon!
Woe to us, for the day declines,
for the shadows of evening lengthen!
5 Arise, and let us attack by night
and destroy her palaces!”
6 For thus says the Lord of hosts:
(J)“Cut down her trees;
(K)cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem.
This is the city that must be (L)punished;
there is nothing but oppression within her.
7 (M)As a well keeps its water fresh,
so she keeps fresh her evil;
(N)violence and destruction are heard within her;
sickness and wounds are ever before me.
8 Be warned, O Jerusalem,
(O)lest I turn from you in disgust,
lest I make you (P)a desolation,
an uninhabited land.”
9 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
(Q)“They shall glean thoroughly as a vine
the remnant of Israel;
like a grape gatherer pass your hand again
over its branches.”
10 (R)To whom shall I speak and give warning,
that they may hear?
(S)Behold, their ears are uncircumcised,
(T)they cannot listen;
behold, (U)the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;
they take no pleasure in it.
11 Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord;
(V)I am weary of holding it in.
(W)“Pour it out upon the children in the street,
and upon the gatherings of young men, also;
(X)both husband and wife (Y)shall be taken,
the elderly and the very aged.
12 (Z)Their houses shall be turned over to others,
their fields and wives together,
for I will stretch out my hand
against the inhabitants of the land,”
declares the Lord.
13 (AA)“For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone (AB)is greedy for unjust gain;
and from (AC)prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
14 They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, (AD)‘Peace, peace,’
(AE)when there is no peace.
15 (AF)Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
No, they were not at all ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
(AG)at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,”
says the Lord.
16 Thus says the Lord:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for (AH)the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
(AI)and find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17 (AJ)I set watchmen over you, saying,
‘Pay attention to (AK)the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, (AL)‘We will not pay attention.’
18 Therefore hear, O nations,
and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.
19 Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people,
(AM)the fruit of their devices,
because they have not paid attention to my words;
and as for my law, they have rejected it.
Do Not Grow Weary
3 (A)Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or (B)fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
(C)“My son, (D)do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
6 For (E)the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. (F)God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, (G)in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to (H)the Father of spirits (I)and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, (J)that we may share his holiness. 11 (K)For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields (L)the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore (M)lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and (N)make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint (O)but rather be healed. 14 (P)Strive for peace with everyone, and for the (Q)holiness (R)without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one (S)fails to obtain the grace of God; that no (T)“root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is (U)sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that (V)afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.