Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

42 As the deer pants for water, so I long for you, O God. ² I thirst for God, the living God. Where can I find him to come and stand before him? ³ Day and night I weep for his help, and all the while my enemies taunt me. “Where is this God of yours?” they scoff.

^4-5 Take courage, my soul! Do you remember those times (but how could you ever forget them!) when you led a great procession to the Temple on festival days, singing with joy, praising the Lord? Why then be downcast? Why be discouraged and sad? Hope in God! I shall yet praise him again. Yes, I shall again praise him for his help.^[a]

⁶ Yet I am standing here depressed and gloomy, but I will meditate upon your kindness to this lovely land where the Jordan River flows and where Mount Hermon and Mount Mizar stand. ⁷ All your waves and billows have gone over me, and floods of sorrow pour upon me like a thundering cataract.^[b]

⁸ Yet day by day the Lord also pours out his steadfast love upon me, and through the night I sing his songs and pray to God who gives me life.

⁹ “O God my Rock,” I cry, “why have you forsaken me? Why must I suffer these attacks from my enemies?” ¹⁰ Their taunts pierce me like a fatal wound; again and again they scoff, “Where is that God of yours?” ¹¹ But, O my soul, don’t be discouraged. Don’t be upset. Expect God to act! For I know that I shall again have plenty of reason to praise him for all that he will do. He is my help! He is my God!

43 O God, defend me from the charges of these merciless, deceitful men. ² For you are God, my only place of refuge. Why have you tossed me aside? Why must I mourn at the oppression of my enemies?

³ Oh, send out your light and your truth—let them lead me. Let them lead me to your Temple on your holy mountain, Zion. ⁴ There I will go to the altar of God, my exceeding joy, and praise him with my harp. O God—my God! ⁵ O my soul, why be so gloomy and discouraged? Trust in God! I shall again praise him for his wondrous help; he will make me smile again,^[a] for he is my God!

¹⁴ “One should be kind to a fainting friend, but you have accused me without the slightest fear of God. ^15-18 My brother, you have proved as unreliable as a brook; it floods when there is ice and snow, but in hot weather, disappears. The caravans turn aside to be refreshed, but there is nothing there to drink, and so they perish. ^19-21 When caravans from Tema and from Sheba stop for water there, their hopes are dashed. And so my hopes in you are dashed—you turn away from me in terror and refuse to help. ²² But why? Have I ever asked you for one slightest thing? Have I begged you for a present? ²³ Have I ever asked your help? ²⁴ All I want is a reasonable answer—then I will keep quiet. Tell me, what have I done wrong?

^25-26 “It is wonderful to speak the truth, but your criticisms are not based on fact. Are you going to condemn me just because I impulsively cried out in desperation? ²⁷ That would be like injuring a helpless orphan, or selling a friend. ²⁸ Look at me! Would I lie to your face? ²⁹ Stop assuming my guilt, for I am righteous. Don’t be so unjust. ³⁰ Don’t I know the difference between right and wrong? Would I not admit it if I had sinned?

¹⁵ Dear brothers, even in everyday life a promise made by one man to another, if it is written down and signed, cannot be changed. He cannot decide afterward to do something else instead.

¹⁶ Now, God gave some promises to Abraham and his Child. And notice that it doesn’t say the promises were to his children, as it would if all his sons—all the Jews—were being spoken of, but to his Child—and that, of course, means Christ. ¹⁷ Here’s what I am trying to say: God’s promise to save through faith—and God wrote this promise down and signed it—could not be canceled or changed four hundred and thirty years later when God gave the Ten Commandments. ¹⁸ If obeying those laws could save us, then it is obvious that this would be a different way of gaining God’s favor than Abraham’s way, for he simply accepted God’s promise.

¹⁹ Well then, why were the laws given? They were added after the promise was given, to show men how guilty they are of breaking God’s laws. But this system of law was to last only until the coming of Christ, the Child to whom God’s promise was made. (And there is this further difference. God gave his laws to angels to give to Moses, who then gave them to the people; ²⁰ but when God gave his promise to Abraham, he did it by himself alone, without angels or Moses as go-betweens.)

^21-22 Well then, are God’s laws and God’s promises against each other? Of course not! If we could be saved by his laws, then God would not have had to give us a different way to get out of the grip of sin—for the Scriptures insist we are all its prisoners. The only way out is through faith in Jesus Christ; the way of escape is open to all who believe him.