Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

52 Why boastest thou in thine own mischief, O mighty man? The goodness of God endureth continually.

² Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.

³ Thou lovest evil more than good, and lying rather than speaking righteousness. Selah

⁴ Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.

⁵ God shall likewise destroy thee for ever; He shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah

⁶ The righteous also shall see this and fear, and shall laugh at him:

⁷ “Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his own wickedness.”

⁸ But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.

⁹ I will praise Thee for ever, because Thou hast done it, and I will wait on Thy name, for it is good before Thy saints.

¹⁰ They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.

¹¹ Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat, ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine from them.

¹² For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor at the gate from their right.

¹³ Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.

¹⁴ Seek good and not evil, that ye may live; and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.

¹⁵ Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate. It may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

¹⁶ Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord saith thus: “Wailing shall be in all streets, and they shall say in all the highways, ‘Alas! Alas!’ And they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skillful in lamentation to wailing.

¹⁷ And in all vineyards shall be wailing, for I will pass through thee,” saith the Lord.

5 For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins;

² who can have compassion on the ignorant and on those who are outside of the Way, since he himself is also encompassed by infirmity.

³ And by reason hereof, he ought, both for the people and also for himself, to make offering for sins.

⁴ And no man taketh this honor unto himself, except he that is called by God, as was Aaron.

⁵ So also Christ glorified not Himself to be made a high priest, but He that said unto Him, “Thou art My Son; today have I begotten Thee.”

⁶ And He saith also in another place, “Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.”