Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 13

For the music leader. A song of David.

⁵ Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem in the Lord’s temple in front of the new courtyard. ⁶ “Lord, the God of our ancestors, you alone are God in heaven. You rule all the kingdoms of the nations. You are so powerful that no one can oppose you. ⁷ You, our God, drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and gave this land to the descendants of your friend Abraham forever. ⁸ They have lived in it and have built a sanctuary in honor of your name in it, saying, ⁹ ‘If calamity, sword, flood,^[a] plague, or famine comes upon us, we will stand before this temple, before you, because your name is in this temple. We will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.’ ¹⁰ So look here! The Ammonites, the Moabites, and those from Mount Seir—the people you wouldn’t let Israel invade when they came out of Egypt’s land, so Israel avoided them and didn’t destroy them— ¹¹ here they are, returning the favor by coming to drive us out of your possession that you gave to us! ¹² Our God, won’t you punish them? We are powerless against this mighty army that is about to attack us. We don’t know what to do, and so we are looking to you for help.”

⁷ You were running well—who stopped you from obeying the truth? ⁸ This line of reasoning doesn’t come from the one who calls you. ⁹ A little yeast works through the whole lump of dough. ¹⁰ I’m convinced about you in the Lord that you won’t think any other way. But the one who is confusing you will pay the penalty, whoever that may be. ¹¹ Brothers and sisters, if I’m still preaching circumcision, why am I still being harassed? In that case, the offense of the cross would be canceled. ¹² I wish that the ones who are upsetting you would castrate themselves!