Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Unjust Judgments Rebuked.
A Psalm of Asaph.
82 God stands in the divine assembly;
He judges among the gods (divine beings).
2
How long will you judge unjustly
And show partiality to the wicked? Selah.
3
Vindicate the weak and fatherless;
Do justice and maintain the rights of the afflicted and destitute.
4
Rescue the weak and needy;
Rescue them from the hand of the wicked.
5
The rulers do not know nor do they understand;
They walk on in the darkness [of complacent satisfaction];
All the foundations of the earth [the fundamental principles of the administration of justice] are shaken.
6
I said, “You are [a]gods;
Indeed, all of you are sons of the Most High.(A)
7
“Nevertheless you will die like men
And fall like any one of the princes.”
8
Arise, O God, judge the earth!
For to You belong all the nations.(B)
Judgment on Judah
4
Thus says the Lord,
“For three transgressions of Judah and for four (multiplied delinquencies)
I will not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it,
Because they have rejected the law of the Lord [the sum of God’s instruction to His people]
And have not kept His commandments;
But their lies [and their idols], after which their fathers walked,
Caused them to go astray.
5
“So I will send a fire [of war, conquest, and destruction by the Babylonians] upon Judah
And it will devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.”
Judgment on Israel
6
Thus says the Lord,
“For three transgressions of Israel and for four (multiplied delinquencies)
I will not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it,
Because they sell the righteous and innocent for silver
And the needy for the price of a pair of sandals.
7
“These who pant after (long to see) the dust of the earth on the head of the helpless [as sign of their grief and distress]
Also turn aside the way of the humble;
And a man and his father will go to the same [a]girl
So that My holy name is profaned.
8
“They stretch out beside every [pagan] altar on clothes taken in pledge [to secure a loan, disregarding God’s command],
And in the house of their God [in contempt of Him] they frivolously drink the wine [which has been] taken from those who have been fined.(A)
9
“Yet it was I [not the false gods] who destroyed the Amorite before them,
Though his height was like the height of the cedars,
And he was as strong as the oaks;
I even destroyed his fruit above and his root below.
10
“Also it was I who brought you up out of the land of Egypt,
And I led you forty years through the wilderness
That you might possess the land of the Amorite.
11
“Then I raised up some of your sons to be prophets [who gave you My revelation],
And some of your young men to be Nazirites (dedicated ones).
Is this not true, O you children of Israel?” says the Lord.(B)
9 “The [ten elder] patriarchs, overwhelmed with jealousy, sold [their younger brother] Joseph into [slavery in] Egypt; but God was with him,(A) 10 and He rescued him from all his suffering, and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made Joseph governor over Egypt and over his entire household.(B)
11 “Now a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great distress and our fathers could not find food [for their households and livestock].(C) 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time.(D) 13 And on the second visit Joseph identified himself to his brothers, and Joseph’s family and background were revealed to Pharaoh.(E) 14 Then Joseph sent and invited Jacob his father and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five persons in all.(F) 15 And Jacob (Israel) went down into Egypt, and [a]there he died, as did our fathers;(G) 16 and [from Egypt] [b]their bodies were taken back to Shechem and placed in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.(H)
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