Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 81
For the music leader. According to the Gittith. Of Asaph.
81 Rejoice out loud to God, our strength!
Shout for joy to Jacob’s God!
10 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up from Egypt’s land.
Open your mouth wide—I will fill it up!
11 But my people wouldn’t listen to my voice.
Israel simply wasn’t agreeable toward me.
12 So I sent them off to follow their willful hearts;
they followed their own advice.
13 How I wish my people would listen to me!
How I wish Israel would walk in my ways!
14 Then I would subdue their enemies in a second;
I would turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the Lord would grovel before me,
and their doom would last forever!
16 But I would feed you with the finest wheat.
I would satisfy you with honey from the rock.”
12 If I took you to court, Lord,
you would win.
But I still have questions about your justice.
Why do guilty persons enjoy success?
Why are evildoers so happy?
2 You plant them, and they take root;
they flourish and bear fruit.
You are always on their lips
but far from their hearts.
3 Yet you, Lord, you know me.
You see me.
You can tell that I love you.[a]
So drag them away
and butcher them like sheep.
Prepare them for the slaughterhouse.
4 How long will the land mourn
and the grass in the fields dry up?
The animals and birds are swept away
due to the evil of those in the land.
The people say,
“God doesn’t see what we’re up to!”
5 If you have raced with people and are worn out,
how will you compete with horses?
If you fall down in an open field,[b]
how will you survive in the forest along the Jordan?
6 Even your relatives, your very family,
are planning to trap you.
They are out to get you.
So don’t trust them,
even if they appear to be on your side.
God’s lament over Judah’s destruction
7 I have abandoned my house;
I have deserted my inheritance.
I have given the one I love
into the power of her enemies.
8 My inheritance has turned against me
like a lion in the forest;
she growls at me;
therefore, I have rejected her.
9 My inheritance has become
like a bird of prey,
surrounded and attacked.[c]
Go, gather all the wild animals for the feast.
10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard;
they have trampled down my field;
they have reduced my treasured field
to a desolate wilderness.
11 They have devastated her;
desolate, she cries out to me in distress:
“The whole land is desolate,
and no one seems to care.”
12 Over all the desert roads
destroyers march;
for the sword of the Lord devours
from one end of the land to the other;
no one is safe.
13 They have sown wheat and reaped weeds;
they have worn themselves out for nothing.
They will be ashamed of their[d] harvest
on account of the Lord’s fierce anger.
7 The end of everything has come. Therefore, be self-controlled and clearheaded so you can pray. 8 Above all, show sincere love to each other, because love brings about the forgiveness of many sins. 9 Open your homes to each other without complaining. 10 And serve each other according to the gift each person has received, as good managers of God’s diverse gifts. 11 Whoever speaks should do so as those who speak God’s word. Whoever serves should do so from the strength that God furnishes. Do this so that in everything God may be honored through Jesus Christ. To him be honor and power forever and always. Amen.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible