Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the LORD, concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite.
1 ¶ O LORD my God, in thee I have put my trust: save me from all those that persecute me, and deliver me
2 Lest they take my soul, as a lion dismembers his prey when there is none to deliver.
3 O LORD my God, if I have done this: if there is iniquity in my hands,
4 if I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me, then let my persecutor escape without retribution.
5 Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it; let him tread down my life upon the earth and lay my honour in the dust. Selah.
6 Arise, O LORD, in thine anger; lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake the judgment in my favour that thou hast commanded.
7 So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about, for their sakes therefore return thou on high.
8 The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me.
9 Let wickedness consume the wicked; but establish the just: for the righteous God is he who tries the hearts and kidneys.
10 ¶ My shield is in God, he who saves the upright in heart.
11 God is he who judges the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.
12 If he does not turn, he will whet his sword; he has bent his bow and made it ready.
13 He has also prepared for him the weapons of death; he ordains his arrows against the persecutors.
14 Behold, he travails with iniquity and has conceived of his own work and brought forth falsehood.
15 He made a pit and deepened it and shall fall into the ditch which he made.
16 His work shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.
17 I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high.
5 ¶ Hear ye this word, because I raise up a lamentation upon you, O house of Israel.
2 The virgin of Israel has fallen; she shall not be able to rise again: she was forsaken upon her land; there is no one to raise her up.
3 For thus hath the Lord GOD said: The city that sent out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which sent forth a hundred shall have ten, in the house of Israel.
4 ¶ But thus hath the LORD said unto the house of Israel, Seek me, and ye shall live:
5 but do not seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and do not pass to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.
6 Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph and devour it, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel.
7 Ye who turn judgment to wormwood and leave off doing righteousness in the earth,
8 look unto him that makes the seven stars and Orion and turns the shadow of death into the morning and makes the day dark with night, that calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name;
9 that strengthens the spoiler against the strong, so that the spoiler shall come against the fortress.
31 ¶ When the Son of man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then he shall sit upon the throne of his glory,
32 and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats,
33 and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto those on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;
35 for I was hungry, and ye gave me food; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in;
36 naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee? or thirsty and give thee drink?
38 When did we see thee a stranger and take thee in? or naked and clothe thee?
39 Or when did we see thee sick or in prison and come unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brothers, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then he shall also say unto those who shall be on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels;
42 for I was hungry, and ye gave me no food; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink;
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then they shall also answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then he shall answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of my brothers, ye did it not to me.
46 And they shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
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