Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Maschil of David; A Prayer when he was in the cave.

¹ ¶ I shall cry unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice shall I ask the LORD for mercy.

² I shall pour out my complaint before him; before him I shall tell of my trouble.

³ When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou didst know my path. In the way in which I walked have they secretly laid a snare for me.

⁴ ¶ I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no one that would know me; I had no refuge; no one cared for my soul.

⁵ I cried unto thee, O LORD; I said, Thou art my hope and my portion in the land of the living.

⁶ Attend unto my cry, for I am brought very low; deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.

⁷ Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name; the righteous shall feast with me; when thou shalt have weaned me.

3 ¶ A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, because of all the ignorance.

² O LORD, I have heard thy word and was afraid; O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the times; in the midst of the times make it known; in wrath remember mercy.

³ ¶ God shall come from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was filled with his praise.

⁴ And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand; and there was hidden his strength.

⁵ Before his face went mortality, and burning coals went forth from his feet.

⁶ He stood and measured the earth; he beheld and drove out the Gentiles; and the ancient mountains crumbled, the ancient hills; the ways of the world bowed unto him.

⁷ I saw the tents of Cushan as nothing, and the curtains of the land of Midian trembled.

⁸ Oh LORD, wast thou displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath even against the sea when thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of saving health?

⁹ Thy bow was entirely uncovered, and the oaths unto the tribes, eternal word, when thou didst divide the earth with rivers.

¹⁰ The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the waters passed by; the abyss uttered its voice; the deep lifted up its hands.

¹¹ The sun and the moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went and at the shining of thy glittering spear.

¹² Thou didst tread upon the land in wrath; thou didst thresh the Gentiles in anger.

¹³ Thou didst go forth to save thy people, to save with thine anointed; thou didst shatter the head of the house of the wicked by uncovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.

¹⁴ Thou didst strike through with his staffs the heads of his villages, who as a whirlwind attempted to scatter me; their pride was as to devour the poor secretly.

¹⁵ Thou didst make a way through the sea for thine horses through the heap of great waters.

¹⁶ ¶ When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice; rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in my seat, that I might rest in the day of trouble when he comes up unto the people to destroy them.

⁵ I will, therefore, remind you, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those that did not believe.

⁶ And the angels who did not keep their first estate but left their own habitation, he has reserved in eternal chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

⁷ Even as Sodom and Gomorrha and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, were set forth for an example, having received the judgment of eternal fire.

⁸ ¶ In the same manner these deceived dreamers, defile their flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of higher powers.

⁹ Yet when Michael, the archangel, contended with the devil, disputing over the body of Moses, he dared not bring against him a curse of judgment, but said, The Lord reprehend thee.

¹⁰ But these speak evil of those things which they do not know; but what they know by nature as animals without reason, in those things they corrupt themselves.

¹¹ Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward and perished in the gainsaying of Core.

¹² These are spots in your banquets of charity, feeding themselves without any fear whatsoever: clouds without water, carried to and fro of the winds; trees withered as in fall, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

¹³ raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own abominations; erratic stars, to whom is reserved gross darkness eternally.

¹⁴ And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his saints

¹⁵ ¶ to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have unfaithfully committed and of all the hard words which the unfaithful sinners have spoken against him.

¹⁶ These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own desires; and their mouth speaks arrogant things, admiring persons to take advantage.

¹⁷ But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,

¹⁸ how that they told you, That in the last time there would be mockers, who would walk after their own ungodly desires.

¹⁹ These are those who make divisions, and are as animals, not having the Spirit.

²⁰ But ye, beloved, building up yourselves upon your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto eternal life,