Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
He Will Not Abandon His People
Psalm 94
1 God of vengeance, Adonai,
God of vengeance, shine forth!
2 Rise up, O Judge of the earth!
Pay back to the proud what they deserve.
3 How long will the wicked, Adonai,
how long will the wicked gloat?
4 They gush out, they speak arrogance—
all the evildoers keep boasting.
5 They crush Your people, Adonai,
and afflict Your heritage.
6 They slay the widow and the outsider,
and murder the fatherless.
7 So they say: “Adonai does not see—
the God of Jacob pays no attention.”
8 Pay attention, stupid among the people!
Fools, when will you comprehend?
9 He who planted the ear, does He not hear?
He who formed the eye, does He not see?
10 He who chastens nations, will He not rebuke—
One who teaches humanity knowledge?
11 Adonai knows human thoughts—
they are but a breath.
12 Blessed is the one You discipline, Adonai,
and teach him from Your Torah,
13 to give him rest from days of trouble
—until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For Adonai will not forsake His people.
He will never abandon His inheritance.[a]
15 For rightness will be restored to justice,
and all the upright in heart will follow it.
16 Who will rise up for me against the wicked?
Who will stand up for me against evildoers?
17 Unless Adonai had been my help,
my soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence.
18 If I say: “My foot has slipped,”
Your mercy, Adonai, will hold me up.
19 When my troubling thoughts multiply within me,
Your consolations comfort my soul.
20 Can a throne of corruption be aligned
with You—planning distress by decree?
21 They band together against the life of the righteous,
and condemn innocent blood.[b]
22 But Adonai has been my fortress
and my God the rock of my refuge.
23 He will repay them for their wickedness,
and will annihilate them in their evil.
Adonai our God will annihilate them.
God’s Just Judgment
5 Roam the streets of Jerusalem,
look around and consider,
search through her squares!
If you can find a person,
if there is one who does justice,
who seeks truth,
then I will pardon the city.
2 Though they say, “As Adonai lives!”
surely they swear falsely.
3 Adonai, do Your eyes not look for faithfulness?
You struck them, but they did not grieve.
You disciplined them, but they refused correction.
They made their faces harder than stone.
They refused to return.
4 Then I said:
These are only the poor.
They are foolish.
For they do not know the way of Adonai,
the ordinance of their God.
5 I will go to the distinguished
and speak to them.
Surely they know the way of Adonai,
the ordinance of their God.
But they too had broken the yoke
and torn off the bonds.
6 Therefore a lion from the forest will kill them.
A desert wolf will ravage them.
A leopard watches over their cities.
Everyone who ventures out will be torn to pieces,
For their rebellion is great,
their backslidings frequent.
7 “Why therefore should I forgive you?
Your children have forsaken Me
and sworn by those who are not gods.
Even though I fed them well,
they committed adultery
and thronged to the prostitute houses.
8 They are well-fed, lustful stallions,
each neighing for his neighbor’s wife.
9 For such, should I not punish them?”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
“On such a nation as this
should I not avenge Myself?
10 Go up into her vines and ravage them,
but do not completely destroy them.
Strip away her branches
for they are not Adonai’s.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
have been utterly unfaithful to Me.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
12 They have lied about Adonai saying:
“Not He! No harm will come to us.
Nor will we see sword or famine.
13 The prophets are but wind
and the word is not in them.
Let what they say be done to them!”
14 Therefore thus says Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot:
“Because you speak this word, behold,
I will make My words in your mouth fire
and this people wood—
and it will devour them.
15 See, I am bringing a nation against you
from afar, O house of Israel.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
“It is an enduring nation,
an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you neither know
nor understand what they say.
16 Their quiver is an open grave.
They are all mighty warriors.
17 They will devour your harvest and your food.
They will devour your sons and your daughters.
They will devour your flocks and your herds.
They will devour your vines and your fig trees.
They will demolish your fortified cities
—the ones in which you trust—
with the sword.
Fight the Good Fight
18 This charge I entrust to you, Timothy my son, in keeping with the prophecies once spoken about you, so that by them you fight the good fight, 19 holding onto faith and a good conscience. By rejecting these, some have suffered shipwreck regarding their faith. 20 Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander—whom I have handed over to satan to be disciplined not to blaspheme.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.