Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Former deliverances and present troubles.
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. Maschil.
44 We have heard with our ears, O God,
Our fathers have told us,
What work thou didst in their days,
In the days of old.
2 Thou didst drive out the nations with thy hand;
But them thou didst plant:
Thou didst afflict the peoples;
But them thou didst spread abroad.
3 For they gat not the land in possession by their own sword,
Neither did their own arm save them;
But thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance,
Because thou wast favorable unto them.
4 Thou art my King, O God:
Command [a]deliverance for Jacob.
5 Through thee will we push down our adversaries:
Through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.
6 For I will not trust in my bow,
Neither shall my sword save me.
7 But thou hast saved us from our adversaries,
And hast put them to shame that hate us.
8 In God have we made our boast all the day long,
And we will give thanks unto thy name for ever. Selah
9 But now thou hast cast us off, and brought us to dishonor,
And goest not forth with our hosts.
10 Thou makest us to turn back from the adversary;
And they that hate us take spoil for themselves.
11 Thou hast made us like sheep appointed for food,
And hast scattered us among the nations.
12 Thou sellest thy people for nought,
And hast not increased thy wealth by their price.
13 Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbors,
A scoffing and a derision to them that are round about us.
14 Thou makest us a byword among the nations,
A shaking of the head among the peoples.
15 All the day long is my dishonor before me,
And the shame of my face hath covered me,
16 For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth,
By reason of the enemy and the avenger.
17 All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee,
Neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.
18 Our heart is not turned back,
Neither have our steps declined from thy way,
19 [b]That thou hast sore broken us in the place of jackals,
And covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we have forgotten the name of our God,
Or spread forth our hands to a strange god;
21 Will not God search this out?
For he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
22 Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
23 Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord?
Arise, cast us not off for ever.
24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face,
And forgettest our affliction and our oppression?
25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust:
Our body cleaveth unto the earth.
26 Rise up for our help,
And redeem us for thy lovingkindness’ sake.
6 Come, and let us return unto Jehovah; for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days will he revive us: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before him. 3 And let us know, let us follow on to know Jehovah: his going forth is sure as the morning; and he will come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain that watereth the earth.
4 O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your [a]goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that goeth early away. 5 Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and [b]thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth. 6 For I desire [c]goodness, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings. 7 But they [d]like [e]Adam have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me. 8 Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity; it is stained with blood. 9 [f]And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way toward Shechem; yea, they have committed lewdness. 10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing: there whoredom is found in Ephraim, Israel is defiled.
30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who followed not after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith: 31 but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. 32 Wherefore? [a]Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by works. They stumbled at the stone of stumbling; 33 even as it is written,
[b]Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence:
And he that believeth on [c]him shall not be put to shame.
10 Brethren, my heart’s [d]desire and my supplication to God is for them, that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness to every one that believeth.
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