Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer for the Nation
For the director of music. A psalm of the sons of Korah.
85 Lord, you have been kind to your land;
you brought back the people of Jacob.
2 You forgave the guilt of the people
and covered all their sins. Selah
3 You stopped all your anger;
you turned back from your strong anger.
4 God our Savior, bring us back again.
Stop being angry with us.
5 Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you stay angry from now on?
6 Won’t you give us life again?
Your people would rejoice in you.
7 Lord, show us your love,
and save us.
8 I will listen to God the Lord.
He has ordered peace for those who worship him.
Don’t let them go back to foolishness.
9 God will soon save those who respect him,
and his glory will be seen in our land.
10 Love and truth belong to God’s people;
goodness and peace will be theirs.
11 On earth people will be loyal to God,
and God’s goodness will shine down from heaven.
12 The Lord will give his goodness,
and the land will give its crops.
13 Goodness will go before God
and prepare the way for him.
The Lord’s Word Against Israel
4 People of Israel, listen to the Lord’s message.
The Lord has this
against you who live in the land:
“The people are not true, not loyal to God,
nor do those who live in the land even know him.
2 Cursing, lying, killing, stealing and adultery are everywhere.
One murder follows another.
3 Because of this the land dries up,
and all its people are dying.
Even the wild animals and the birds of the air
and the fish of the sea are dying.
God’s Case Against the Priests
4 “No one should accuse
or blame another person.
Don’t blame the people, you priests,
when they quarrel with you.
5 You will be ruined in the day,
and your prophets will be ruined with you in the night.
I will also destroy your mother.[a]
6 My people will be destroyed,
because they have no knowledge.
You have refused to learn,
so I will refuse to let you be priests to me.
You have forgotten the teachings of your God,
so I will forget your children.
7 The more priests there are,
the more they sin against me.
I will take away their honor
and give them shame.
8 Since the priests live off the sin offerings of the people,
they want the people to sin more and more.
9 The priests are as wrong as the people,
and I will punish them both for what they have done.
I will repay them for the wrong they have done.
10 “They will eat
but not have enough;
they will have sexual relations with the prostitutes,
but they will not have children,
because they have left the Lord
to give themselves to 11 prostitution,
to old and new wine,
which take away their ability to understand.
God’s Case Against the People
12 “My people ask wooden idols for advice;
they ask those sticks of wood to advise them!
Like prostitutes, they have chased after other gods
and have left their own God.
13 They make sacrifices on the tops of the mountains.
They burn offerings on the hills,
under oaks, poplars, and other trees,
because their shade is nice.
So your daughters become prostitutes,
and your daughters-in-law are guilty of adultery.
14 “But I will not punish your daughters
for becoming prostitutes,
nor your daughters-in-law
for their sins of adultery.
I will not punish them,
because the men have sexual relations with prostitutes
and offer sacrifices with the temple prostitutes.
A foolish people will be ruined.
15 “Israel, you act like a prostitute,
but do not be guilty toward the Lord.
Don’t go to Gilgal
or go up to Beth Aven.[b]
Don’t make promises,
saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives . . .’
16 The people of Israel are stubborn
like a stubborn young cow.
Now the Lord will feed them
like lambs in the open country.
17 The Israelites have chosen to worship idols,
so leave them alone.
18 When they finish their drinking,
they completely give themselves to being prostitutes;
they love these disgraceful ways.
19 They will be swept away as if by a whirlwind,
and their sacrifices will bring them only shame.
15 During this time there was a meeting of the believers (about one hundred twenty of them). Peter stood up and said, 16-17 “Brothers and sisters, in the Scriptures the Holy Spirit said through David something that must happen involving Judas. He was one of our own group and served together with us. He led those who arrested Jesus.” 18 (Judas bought a field with the money he got for his evil act. But he fell to his death, his body burst open, and all his intestines poured out. 19 Everyone in Jerusalem learned about this so they named this place Akeldama. In their language Akeldama means “Field of Blood.”) 20 “In the Book of Psalms,” Peter said, “this is written:
‘May his place be empty;
leave no one to live in it.’ Psalm 69:25
And it is also written:
‘Let another man replace him as leader.’ Psalm 109:8
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.