Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Wishing to Be Near God
A psalm of David when he was in the ·desert [wilderness] of Judah [C fleeing from a jealous Saul; 1 Sam. 21–31].
63 God, you are my God.
I ·search for [am intent on] you.
I thirst for you [42:1–2]
·like someone [or my flesh yearns for you] in a dry, ·empty [exhausted; weary] land
where there is no water.
2 I have seen you in ·the Temple [L the Holy Place; or holiness]
and have seen your strength and glory.
3 Because your ·love [loyalty] is better than life,
·I [L My lips] will praise you.
4 I will ·praise [bless] you ·as long as I live [L with my life].
I will lift up my hands in your name [C in prayer].
5 I will be ·content as if I had eaten the best foods [L satisfied as with fat and fatness].
My lips will sing, and my mouth will praise you.
6 I remember you while I’m lying in bed;
I ·think about [meditate on] you through the watches of the night [C the night was divided into four watches of three hours each].
7 You are my help.
·Because of your protection [L In the shadow of your wings; C an image of compassion or perhaps a reference to the cherubim whose wings covered the Ark of the Covenant; Ex. 25:20], I sing.
8 I ·stay close [cling] to you;
·you support me with your right hand [L your right hand sustains me].
Israel, the Lord’s Vineyard
5 Now I will sing for my ·friend [or beloved] a song about his vineyard [C Israel is the vineyard and God is its owner].
My ·friend [or beloved] had a vineyard
on a ·hill with very rich soil [fertile hillside].
2 He ·dug [or fenced it] and cleared the field of stones
and planted the best grapevines there.
He built a ·tower [watchtower; C for protection] in the middle of it
and ·cut [carved] out a winepress as well [C symbolizing God’s protection of Israel].
He ·hoped [expected; looked to see if] good grapes would grow there,
but ·only bad ones grew [L it produced only wild/sour grapes].
3 [C The vineyard owner now speaks:] “You ·people living in [residents/citizens of] Jerusalem,
and you people of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard [C the scene changes from a love song to a courtroom indictment].
4 What more could I have done for my vineyard
than I have already done?
Although I ·expected [waited/looked for] good grapes to grow,
why ·were there [did it produce] only ·bad [sour; wild] ones?
5 Now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard:
I will remove the hedge,
and it will ·be burned [be purged/destroyed; or become a pasture].
I will break down the stone wall,
and it will be ·walked [trampled; C referring to the Assyrian conquest in 722 bc].
6 I will ·ruin my field [make it a wasteland; leave it untended].
It will not be ·trimmed [pruned] or hoed,
and ·weeds [briers] and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds
not to rain on it.”
7 [L For; Because] The vineyard belonging to the Lord ·All-Powerful [Almighty; of Heaven’s Armies; T of hosts]
is the ·nation [L house] of Israel;
and the people of Judah
are the ·garden [vines; plants] that he ·loves [delights in].
He looked for justice, but ·there was [look; behold] only ·killing [bloodshed; or oppression; injustice; C the Hebrew words for “justice” and “killing” sound alike].
He hoped for ·right living [righteousness], but ·there were [look; behold] only ·cries of pain [cries of distress; or an outrcy; C the Hebrew words for “righteousness” and “cries of pain” sound alike].
Two Kinds of Fruit(A)
43 “[L For] A good tree does not produce ·bad [rotten] fruit, nor does a ·bad [rotten] tree produce good fruit. 44 [L For] Each tree is ·known [identified] by its own fruit. [L For] People don’t ·gather [pick] figs from thornbushes, and they don’t get grapes from ·bushes [brambles; briers]. 45 Good people bring good things out of the good ·they stored [treasured] in their hearts. But evil people bring evil things out of the evil ·they stored [treasured] in their hearts. ·People speak the things that are in their hearts [L For the mouth speaks what overflows from the heart].
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