Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
BOOK II
(Psalms 42–72)
Psalm 42
Longing for God
For the choir director. A Maskil of the sons of Korah.
1 As a deer longs for streams of water,
so I long for You, God.(A)
2 I thirst for God, the living God.
When can I come and appear before God?(B)
3 My tears have been my food day and night,
while all day long people say to me,
“Where is your God?”(C)
4 I remember this as I pour out my heart:(D)
how I walked with many,
leading the festive procession to the house of God,
with joyful and thankful shouts.(E)
5 Why am I so depressed?
Why this turmoil within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him,
my Savior and my God.(F)
6 I[a] am deeply depressed;
therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan
and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.(G)
7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls;
all Your breakers and Your billows have swept over me.(H)
8 The Lord will send His faithful love by day;(I)
His song will be with me in the night—
a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I will say to God, my rock,(J)
“Why have You forgotten me?
Why must I go about in sorrow
because of the enemy’s oppression?”(K)
10 My adversaries taunt me,
as if crushing my bones,
while all day long they say to me,
“Where is your God?”(L)
11 Why am I so depressed?
Why this turmoil within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him,
my Savior and my God.(M)
Psalm 43[a]
1 Vindicate me, God, and defend my cause
against an ungodly nation;
rescue me from the deceitful and unjust man.(A)
2 For You are the God of my refuge.
Why have You rejected me?
Why must I go about in sorrow
because of the enemy’s oppression?(B)
3 Send Your light and Your truth; let them lead me.(C)
Let them bring me to Your holy mountain,
to Your dwelling place.(D)
4 Then I will come to the altar of God,
to God, my greatest joy.(E)
I will praise You with the lyre,
God, my God.(F)
5 Why am I so depressed?
Why this turmoil within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him,
my Savior and my God.(G)
14 A despairing man should receive loyalty from his friends,[a](A)
even if he abandons the fear of the Almighty.
15 My brothers are as treacherous as a wadi,
as seasonal streams that overflow
16 and become darkened[b] because of ice,
and the snow melts into them.
17 The wadis evaporate in warm weather;
they disappear from their channels in hot weather.
18 Caravans turn away from their routes,
go up into the desert, and perish.
19 The caravans of Tema look for these streams.
The traveling merchants of Sheba hope for them.
20 They are ashamed because they had been confident of finding water.
When they arrive there, they are frustrated.(B)
21 So this is what you have now become to me.[c]
When you see something dreadful, you are afraid.
22 Have I ever said: “Give me something”
or “Pay a bribe for me from your wealth”
23 or “Deliver me from the enemy’s power”
or “Redeem me from the grasp of the ruthless”?
24 Teach me, and I will be silent.
Help me understand what I did wrong.
25 How painful honest words can be!
But what does your rebuke prove?
26 Do you think that you can disprove my words
or that a despairing man’s words are mere wind?(C)
27 No doubt you would cast lots for a fatherless child
and negotiate a price to sell your friend.(D)
15 Brothers, I’m using a human illustration.[a] No one sets aside or makes additions to even a human covenant[b] that has been ratified. 16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say “and to seeds,” as though referring to many, but referring to one, and to your seed,(A)[c] who is Christ. 17 And I say this: The law, which came 430 years later,(B) does not revoke a covenant that was previously ratified by God[d] and cancel the promise. 18 For if the inheritance is from the law, it is no longer from the promise; but God granted it to Abraham through the promise.
The Purpose of the Law
19 Why then was the law given?(C) It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise was made would come. The law was put into effect through angels(D) by means of a mediator.(E) 20 Now a mediator is not for just one person, but God is one.(F) 21 Is the law therefore contrary to God’s promises? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that was able to give life, then righteousness would certainly be by the law. 22 But the Scripture has imprisoned everything under sin’s power,[e](G) so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ(H) might be given to those who believe.(I)
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