Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Plea for Justice
A Psalm of Asaph.
82 God (A)stands in the congregation of [a]the mighty;
He judges among (B)the [b]gods.
2 How long will you judge unjustly,
And (C)show partiality to the wicked? Selah
3 [c]Defend the poor and fatherless;
Do justice to the afflicted and (D)needy.
4 Deliver the poor and needy;
Free them from the hand of the wicked.
5 They do not know, nor do they understand;
They walk about in darkness;
All the (E)foundations of the earth are [d]unstable.
6 I said, (F)“You are [e]gods,
And all of you are children of the Most High.
7 But you shall die like men,
And fall like one of the princes.”
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth;
(G)For You shall inherit all nations.
Judgment on Judah
4 Thus says the Lord:
“For three transgressions of (A)Judah, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
(B)Because they have despised the law of the Lord,
And have not kept His commandments.
(C)Their lies lead them astray,
Lies (D)which their fathers followed.
5 (E)But I will send a fire upon Judah,
And it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.”
Judgment on Israel
6 Thus says the Lord:
“For three transgressions of (F)Israel, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because (G)they sell the righteous for silver,
And the (H)poor for a pair of sandals.
7 They [a]pant after the dust of the earth which is on the head of the poor,
And (I)pervert the way of the humble.
(J)A man and his father go in to the same girl,
(K)To defile My holy name.
8 They lie down (L)by every altar on clothes (M)taken in pledge,
And drink the wine of [b]the condemned in the house of their god.
9 “Yet it was I who destroyed the (N)Amorite before them,
Whose height was like the (O)height of the cedars,
And he was as strong as the oaks;
Yet I (P)destroyed his fruit above
And his roots beneath.
10 Also it was (Q)I who brought you up from the land of Egypt,
And (R)led you forty years through the wilderness,
To possess the land of the Amorite.
11 I raised up some of your sons as (S)prophets,
And some of your young men as (T)Nazirites.
Is it not so, O you children of Israel?”
Says the Lord.
The Patriarchs in Egypt
9 (A)“And the patriarchs, becoming envious, (B)sold Joseph into Egypt. (C)But God was with him 10 and delivered him out of all his troubles, (D)and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. 11 (E)Now a famine and great [a]trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance. 12 (F)But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. 13 And the (G)second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to the Pharaoh. 14 (H)Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and (I)all his relatives to him, [b]seventy-five people. 15 (J)So Jacob went down to Egypt; (K)and he died, he and our fathers. 16 And (L)they were carried back to Shechem and laid in (M)the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.