Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
One of Asaph’s songs of praise.
82 God stands in the assembly of the gods.[a]
He stands as judge among the judges.
2 He says, “How long will you judge unfairly
and show special favors to the wicked?” Selah
3 “Defend the poor and orphans.
Protect the rights of the poor.
4 Help those who are poor and helpless.
Save them from those who are evil.
5 “They[b] don’t know what is happening.
They don’t understand!
They don’t know what they are doing.
Their world is falling down around them!”
6 I, God Most High, say,
“You are gods,[c] my own sons.
7 But you will die as all people must die.
Your life will end like that of any ruler.”
8 Get up, God! You be the judge!
You be the leader over all the nations!
Punishment for Judah
4 This is what the Lord says: “I will definitely punish Judah for the many crimes they did. They refused to obey the Lord’s teachings and they did not keep his commands. Their ancestors believed lies, and those same lies caused the people of Judah to stop following God. 5 So I will start a fire in Judah that will destroy the high towers of Jerusalem.”
Punishment for Israel
6 This is what the Lord says: “I will definitely punish Israel for the many crimes they have done. They sold honest people for a little silver. They sold the poor for the price of a pair of sandals. 7 They pushed their faces into the ground and walked on them. They stopped listening to suffering people. Fathers and sons had sexual relations with the same woman. They ruined my holy name. 8 They took clothes from the poor, and then they sat on those clothes while worshiping at their altars. They loaned money to the poor, and then they took their clothes as a promise for payment.[a] They made people pay fines and used the money to buy wine for themselves to drink in the temple of their god.
9 “But it was I who destroyed the Amorites[b] before them. They were as tall as cedar trees and as strong as oaks, but I destroyed their fruit above and their roots below.[c]
10 “I was the one who brought you from the land of Egypt. For 40 years I led you through the desert. I helped you take the Amorites’ land. 11 I made some of your sons to be prophets and some of your young men to be Nazirites. People of Israel, it is true.” This is what the Lord said.
9 “These ancestors of ours became jealous of their brother Joseph and sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him 10 and saved him from all his troubles. Pharaoh was the king of Egypt then. He liked Joseph and respected him because of the wisdom God gave him. Pharaoh gave Joseph the job of being a governor of Egypt. He even let him rule over all the people in Pharaoh’s house. 11 But all the land of Egypt and of Canaan became dry. It became so dry that food could not grow, and the people suffered very much. Our people could not find anything to eat.
12 “But Jacob heard that there was food in Egypt. So he sent our people there. This was their first trip to Egypt. 13 Then they went there a second time. This time Joseph told his brothers who he was. And Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. 14 Then Joseph sent some men to tell Jacob, his father, to come to Egypt. He also invited all his relatives, a total of 75 people. 15 So Jacob went down to Egypt. He and our other ancestors lived there until they died. 16 Later, their bodies were moved to Shechem, where they were put in a tomb. It was the same tomb that Abraham had bought in Shechem from the sons of Hamor. He paid them with silver.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International