Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 120
A Cry for Truth and Peace
A song of ascents.
1 In my distress I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.(A)
2 “Lord, rescue me from lying lips
and a deceitful tongue.”(B)
11 For this is what the Lord says concerning Shallum(A) son of Josiah, king of Judah, who became king in place of his father Josiah, and who has left this place: “He will never return here again, 12 but he will die in the place where they deported him, never seeing this land again.”
A Message concerning Jehoiakim
13 Woe for the one who builds his palace
through unrighteousness,(B)
his upstairs rooms through injustice,
who makes his neighbor serve without pay
and will not give him his wages,(C)
14 who says, “I will build myself a massive palace,
with spacious upstairs rooms.”
He will cut windows[a] in it,
and it will be paneled with cedar(D)
and painted bright red.
15 Are you a king because you excel in cedar?
Didn’t your father eat and drink
and administer justice and righteousness?(E)
Then it went well with him.
16 He took up the case of the poor and needy;(F)
then it went well.
Is this not what it means to know me?
This is the Lord’s declaration.
17 But you have eyes and a heart for nothing
except your own dishonest profit,
shedding innocent blood
and committing extortion and oppression.(G)
Religious Hypocrisy Denounced
37 As he was speaking, a Pharisee(A) asked him to dine with him. So he went in and reclined at the table. 38 When the Pharisee saw this, he was amazed that he did not first perform the ritual washing[a](B) before dinner.(C) 39 But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed(D) and evil.(E) 40 Fools!(F) Didn’t he who made the outside make the inside too? 41 But give from what is within to the poor,[b](G) and then everything is clean(H) for you.
42 “But woe(I) to you Pharisees! You give a tenth[c](J) of mint, rue, and every kind of herb, and you bypass[d] justice(K) and love for God.[e](L) These things you should have done without neglecting the others.
43 “Woe to you Pharisees! You love the front seat(M) in the synagogues(N) and greetings in the marketplaces.
44 “Woe to you![f] You are like unmarked graves; (O) the people who walk over them don’t know it.”
45 One of the experts in the law(P) answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things you insult us too.”
46 Then he said, “Woe also to you experts in the law! You load people with burdens(Q) that are hard to carry, and yet you yourselves don’t touch these burdens with one of your fingers.(R)
47 “Woe to you! You build tombs[g] for the prophets,(S) and your fathers killed(T) them. 48 Therefore, you are witnesses(U) that you approve[h](V) the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their monuments.[i] 49 Because of this, the wisdom of God(W) said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles,(X) and some of them they will kill and persecute,’(Y) 50 so that this generation(Z) may be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world[j](AA) — 51 from the blood of Abel(AB) to the blood of Zechariah,(AC) who perished between the altar and the sanctuary.
“Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible.[k]
52 “Woe to you experts in the law! You have taken away the key to knowledge.(AD) You didn’t go in yourselves, and you hindered(AE) those who were trying to go in.”
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