Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Prayer for Protection against Oppressors.

A Prayer of David.

Joshua, the High Priest

3 Then he showed me ^(A)Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and ^[a](B)Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. ² The Lord said to Satan, “^(C)The Lord rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the Lord who has ^(D)chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a ^(E)brand plucked from the fire?” ³ Now Joshua was clothed with ^(F)filthy garments and standing before the angel. ⁴ He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, “^(G)Remove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have ^(H)taken your iniquity away from you and ^[b]will ^(I)clothe you with festal robes.” ⁵ Then I said, “Let them put a clean ^(J)turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the Lord was standing by.

⁶ And the angel of the Lord admonished Joshua, saying, ⁷ “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘If you will ^(K)walk in My ways and if you will perform My service, then you will also ^(L)govern My house and also have charge of My ^(M)courts, and I will grant you ^[c]free access among these who are standing here.

The Branch

⁸ Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you—indeed they are men who are a ^(N)symbol, for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the ^[d](O)Branch. ⁹ For behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; on one stone are ^(P)seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave an inscription on it,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘and I will ^(Q)remove the iniquity of that land in one day. ¹⁰ ‘In that day,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘every one of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his ^(R)vine and under his fig tree.’”

⁴ For ^(A)if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and ^(B)committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; ⁵ and did not spare ^(C)the ancient world, but preserved ^(D)Noah, a ^[a]preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a ^(E)flood upon the world of the ungodly; ⁶ and if He ^(F)condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an ^(G)example to those who would ^(H)live ungodly lives thereafter; ⁷ and if He ^(I)rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the ^(J)sensual conduct of ^(K)unprincipled men ⁸ (for by what he saw and heard that ^(L)righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), ^9 (M)then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from ^[b]temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the ^(N)day of judgment, ¹⁰ and especially those who ^[c](O)indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and ^(P)despise authority.

Daring, ^(Q)self-willed, they do not tremble when they ^(R)revile angelic ^[d]majesties, ^11 (S)whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. ¹² But ^(T)these, like unreasoning animals, ^(U)born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in ^[e]the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, ¹³ suffering wrong as ^(V)the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to ^(W)revel in the ^(X)daytime. They are stains and blemishes, ^(Y)reveling in their ^[f]deceptions, as they ^(Z)carouse with you, ¹⁴ having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, ^(AA)enticing ^(AB)unstable souls, having a heart trained in ^(AC)greed, ^(AD)accursed children; ¹⁵ forsaking ^(AE)the right way, they have gone astray, having followed ^(AF)the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved ^(AG)the wages of unrighteousness; ¹⁶ but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, ^(AH)for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.

¹⁷ These are ^(AI)springs without water and mists driven by a storm, ^(AJ)for whom the ^[g]black darkness has been reserved. ¹⁸ For speaking out ^(AK)arrogant words of ^(AL)vanity they ^(AM)entice by fleshly desires, by ^(AN)sensuality, those who barely ^(AO)escape from the ones who live in error, ¹⁹ promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for ^(AP)by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. ²⁰ For if, after they have ^(AQ)escaped the defilements of the world by ^(AR)the knowledge of the ^(AS)Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again ^(AT)entangled in them and are overcome, ^(AU)the last state has become worse for them than the first. ^21 (AV)For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from ^(AW)the holy commandment ^(AX)handed on to them.