Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

44 ^1-2 O God, we have heard of the glorious miracles you did in the days of long ago. Our forefathers have told us how you drove the heathen nations from this land and gave it all to us, spreading Israel from one end of the country to the other. ³ They did not conquer by their own strength and skill, but by your mighty power and because you smiled upon them and favored them.

⁴ You are my King and my God. Decree victories for your people. ⁵ For it is only by your power and through your name that we tread down our enemies; ⁶ I do not trust my weapons. They could never save me. ⁷ Only you can give us the victory over those who hate us.

⁸ My constant boast is God. I can never thank you enough! ⁹ And yet for a time, O Lord, you have tossed us aside in dishonor and have not helped us in our battles. ¹⁰ You have actually fought against us and defeated us before our foes. Our enemies have invaded our land and pillaged the countryside. ¹¹ You have treated us like sheep in a slaughter pen and scattered us among the nations. ¹² You sold us for a pittance. You valued us at nothing at all. ¹³ The neighboring nations mock and laugh at us because of all the evil you have sent. ¹⁴ You have made the word Jew a byword of contempt and shame among the nations, disliked by all. ^15-16 I am constantly despised, mocked, taunted, and cursed by my vengeful enemies.

¹⁷ And all this has happened, Lord, despite our loyalty to you. We have not violated your covenant. ¹⁸ Our hearts have not deserted you! We have not left your path by a single step. ¹⁹ If we had, we could understand your punishing us in the barren wilderness and sending us into darkness and death. ²⁰ If we had turned away from worshiping our God and were worshiping idols, ²¹ would God not know it? Yes, he knows the secrets of every heart. ²² But that is not our case. For we are facing death threats constantly because of serving you! We are like sheep awaiting slaughter.

²³ Waken! Rouse yourself! Don’t sleep, O Lord! Are we cast off forever? ²⁴ Why do you look the other way? Why do you ignore our sorrows and oppression? ²⁵ We lie face downward in the dust. ²⁶ Rise up, O Lord, and come and help us. Save us by your constant love.

6 “‘Come, let us return to the Lord; it is he who has torn us—he will heal us. He has wounded—he will bind us up. ² In just a couple of days,^[a] or three at the most, he will set us on our feet again to live in his kindness! ³ Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him, and he will respond to us as surely as the coming of dawn or the rain of early spring.’”

⁴ “O Ephraim and Judah, what shall I do with you? For your love vanishes like morning clouds, and disappears like dew. ⁵ I sent my prophets to warn you of your doom; I have slain you with the words of my mouth, threatening you with death. Suddenly, without warning, my judgment will strike you as surely as day follows night.

⁶ “I don’t want your sacrifices—I want your love; I don’t want your offerings—I want you to know me.

⁷ “But like Adam, you broke my covenant; you refused my love. ⁸ Gilead is a city of sinners, tracked with footprints of blood. ⁹ Her citizens are gangs of robbers, lying in ambush for their victims; packs of priests murder along the road to Shechem and practice every kind of sin. ¹⁰ Yes, I have seen a horrible thing in Israel—Ephraim chasing other gods, Israel utterly defiled.

³⁰ Well then, what shall we say about these things? Just this, that God has given the Gentiles the opportunity to be acquitted by faith, even though they had not been really seeking God. ³¹ But the Jews, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping his laws, never succeeded. ³² Why not? Because they were trying to be saved by keeping the law and being good instead of by depending on faith. They have stumbled over the great stumbling stone. ³³ God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, “I have put a Rock in the path of the Jews, and many will stumble over him (Jesus). Those who believe in him will never be disappointed.”^[a]

10 Dear brothers, the longing of my heart and my prayer is that the Jewish people might be saved. ² I know what enthusiasm they have for the honor of God, but it is misdirected zeal. ³ For they don’t understand that Christ has died to make them right with God. Instead they are trying to make themselves good enough to gain God’s favor by keeping the Jewish laws and customs, but that is not God’s way of salvation. ⁴ They don’t understand that Christ gives to those who trust in him everything they are trying to get by keeping his laws. He ends all of that.