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.
18 “Yet even then[a] I will not completely destroy you,” says the Lord. 19 “So then, Jeremiah,[b] when your people[c] ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?’ tell them, ‘It is because you rejected me and served foreign gods in your own land. So[d] you must serve foreigners[e] in a land that does not belong to you.’
20 “Proclaim[f] this message among the descendants of Jacob.[g]
Make it known throughout Judah.
21 Tell them: ‘Hear this,
you foolish people who have no understanding,
who have eyes but do not discern,
who have ears but do not perceive:[h]
22 ‘You should fear me!’ says the Lord.
‘You should tremble in awe before me![i]
I made the sand to be a boundary for the sea,
a permanent barrier that it can never cross.
Its waves may roll, but they can never prevail.
They may roar, but they can never cross beyond that boundary.’[j]
23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts.
They have turned aside and gone their own way.[k]
24 They do not say to themselves,[l]
‘Let us revere the Lord our God.
It is he who gives us the autumn rains and the spring rains at the proper time.
It is he who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.”[m]
25 Your misdeeds have stopped these things from coming.[n]
Your sins have deprived you of my bounty.’[o]
26 Indeed, there are wicked scoundrels among my people.
They lie in wait like bird catchers hiding in ambush.[p]
They set deadly traps[q] to catch people.
27 Like a cage filled with the birds that have been caught,[r]
their houses are filled with the gains of their fraud and deceit.[s]
That is how they have gotten so rich and powerful.[t]
28 That is how[u] they have grown fat and sleek.[v]
There is no limit to the evil things they do.[w]
They do not plead the cause of the fatherless in such a way as to win it.
They do not defend the rights of the poor.
29 I will certainly punish them for doing such things!” says the Lord.
“I will certainly bring retribution on such a nation as this![x]
30 Something horrible and shocking
is going on in the land of Judah:
31 The prophets prophesy lies.
The priests exercise power by their own authority.[y]
And my people love to have it this way.
But they will not be able to help you when the time of judgment comes![z]
8 Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your notice,[a] that a single day is like a thousand years with the Lord and a thousand years are like a single day. 9 The Lord is not slow concerning his promise,[b] as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish[c] for any[d] to perish but for all to come to repentance.[e] 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; when it comes,[f] the heavens will disappear[g] with a horrific noise,[h] and the celestial bodies[i] will melt away[j] in a blaze,[k] and the earth and every deed done on it[l] will be laid bare.[m] 11 Since all these things are to melt away[n] in this manner,[o] what sort of people must you[p] be, conducting your lives in holiness and godliness,[q] 12 while waiting for and hastening[r] the coming of the day of God?[s] Because of this day,[t] the heavens will be burned up and[u] dissolve, and the celestial bodies[v] will melt away in a blaze![w] 13 But, according to his promise, we are waiting for[x] new heavens and a new earth, in which[y] righteousness truly resides.[z]
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