Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 94[a]
94 O Lord, the God who avenges!
O God who avenges, reveal your splendor.[b]
2 Rise up, O judge of the earth.
Pay back the proud.
3 O Lord, how long will the wicked,
how long will the wicked celebrate?[c]
4 They spew out threats[d] and speak defiantly;
all the evildoers boast.[e]
5 O Lord, they crush your people;
they oppress the nation that belongs to you.[f]
6 They kill the widow and the resident foreigner,
and they murder the fatherless.[g]
7 Then they say, “The Lord does not see this;
the God of Jacob does not take notice of it.”[h]
8 Take notice of this,[i] you ignorant people.[j]
You fools, when will you ever understand?
9 Does the one who makes the human ear not hear?
Does the one who forms the human eye not see?[k]
10 Does the one who disciplines the nations not punish?
He is the one who imparts knowledge to human beings!
11 The Lord knows that peoples’ thoughts
are morally bankrupt.[l]
12 How blessed is the one[m] whom you instruct, O Lord,
the one whom you teach from your law,
13 in order to protect him from times of trouble,[n]
until the wicked are destroyed.[o]
14 Certainly[p] the Lord does not forsake his people;
he does not abandon the nation that belongs to him.[q]
15 For justice will prevail,[r]
and all the morally upright[s] will be vindicated.[t]
16 Who will rise up to defend me[u] against the wicked?
Who will stand up for me against the evildoers?[v]
17 If the Lord had not helped me,
I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.[w]
18 If I say, “My foot is slipping,”
your loyal love, O Lord, supports me.
19 When worries threaten to overwhelm me,[x]
your soothing touch makes me happy.[y]
20 Cruel rulers[z] are not your allies,
those who make oppressive laws.[aa]
21 They conspire against[ab] the blameless,[ac]
and condemn to death the innocent.[ad]
22 But the Lord will protect me,[ae]
and my God will shelter me.[af]
23 He will pay them back for their sin.[ag]
He will destroy them because of[ah] their evil;
the Lord our God will destroy them.
Judah is Justly Deserving of Coming Judgment
5 The Lord said,[a]
“Go up and down[b] through the streets of Jerusalem.
Look around and see for yourselves.
Search through its public squares.
See if any of you can find a single person
who deals honestly and tries to be truthful.[c]
If you can,[d] then I will not punish this city.[e]
2 These people make promises in the name of the Lord.[f]
But the fact is,[g] what they swear to is really a lie.”[h]
3 Lord, I know you look for faithfulness.[i]
But even when you punish these people, they feel no remorse.[j]
Even when you nearly destroy them, they refuse to be corrected.
They have become as hardheaded as a rock.[k]
They refuse to change their ways.[l]
4 I thought, “Surely it is only the ignorant poor who act this way.[m]
They act like fools because they do not know what the Lord demands.[n]
They do not know what their God requires of them.[o]
5 I will go to the leaders[p]
and speak with them.
Surely they know what the Lord demands.[q]
Surely they know what their God requires of them.”[r]
Yet all of them, too, have rejected his authority
and refuse to submit to him.[s]
6 So like a lion from the thicket their enemies will kill them.
Like a wolf from the rift valley they will destroy them.
Like a leopard they will lie in wait outside their cities
and totally destroy anyone who ventures out.[t]
For they have rebelled so much
and done so many unfaithful things.[u]
7 The Lord asked,[v]
“How can I leave you unpunished, Jerusalem?[w]
Your people[x] have rejected me
and have worshiped gods that are not gods at all.[y]
Even though I supplied all their needs,[z] they were like an unfaithful wife to me.[aa]
They went flocking[ab] to the houses of prostitutes.[ac]
8 They are like lusty, well-fed[ad] stallions.
Each of them lusts after[ae] his neighbor’s wife.
9 I will surely punish them for doing such things!” says the Lord.
“I will surely bring retribution on such a nation as this!”[af]
10 The Lord commanded the enemy,[ag]
“March through the vineyards of Israel and Judah and ruin them.[ah]
But do not destroy them completely.
Strip off their branches
for these people do not belong to the Lord.[ai]
11 For the nations of Israel and Judah[aj]
have been very unfaithful to me,”
says the Lord.
12 “These people have denied what the Lord says.[ak]
They have said, ‘That is not so![al]
No harm will come to us.
We will not experience war and famine.[am]
13 The prophets will prove to be full of wind.[an]
The Lord has not spoken through them.[ao]
So, let what they say happen to them.’”
14 Because of that,[ap] the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies[aq] said to me:[ar]
“Because these people have spoken[as] like this,[at]
I will make the words that I put in your mouth like fire.
And I will make this people like wood,
which the fiery judgments you speak will burn up.”[au]
15 The Lord says,[av] “Listen,[aw] nation of Israel![ax]
I am about to bring a nation from far away to attack you.
It will be a nation that was founded long ago
and has lasted for a long time.
It will be a nation whose language you will not know.
Its people will speak words that you will not be able to understand.
16 All its soldiers are strong and mighty.[ay]
Their arrows will send you to your grave.[az]
17 They will eat up your crops and your food.
They will kill off[ba] your sons and your daughters.
They will eat up your sheep and your cattle.
They will destroy your vines and your fig trees.[bb]
Their weapons will batter down[bc]
the fortified cities you trust in.
18 I put this charge[a] before you, Timothy my child, in keeping with the prophecies once spoken about you,[b] in order that with such encouragement[c] you may fight the good fight. 19 To do this[d] you must hold firmly to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck in regard to the faith. 20 Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I handed over to Satan[e] to be taught not to blaspheme.
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