Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Book Five

Psalm 107

¹ O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!

² Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has delivered from the hand of the adversary,

³ And gathered them out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the [Red] Sea in the south.

⁴ Some wandered in the wilderness in a solitary desert track; they found no city for habitation.

⁵ Hungry and thirsty, they fainted; their lives were near to being extinguished.

⁶ Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses.

⁷ He led them forth by the straight and right way, that they might go to a city where they could establish their homes.

⁸ Oh, that men would praise [and confess to] the Lord for His goodness and loving-kindness and His wonderful works to the children of men!

⁹ For He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with good.

⁴³ Whoso is wise [if there be any truly wise] will observe and heed these things; and they will diligently consider the mercy and loving-kindness of the Lord.

8 Set the trumpet to your lips! [The enemy] comes as a [great] vulture against the house of the Lord, because they have broken My covenant and transgressed against My law.

² Then they will cry to Me, My God, we [of Israel] know You!

³ Israel has rejected the good [with loathing]; the enemy shall pursue him.

⁴ They set up kings, but not from Me [therefore without My blessing]; they have made princes or removed them [without consulting Me; therefore], I knew and recognized [them] not. With their silver and their gold they made idols for themselves, that they [the silver and the gold] may be destroyed.

⁵ Your calf [idol], O Samaria, is loathsome and I have spurned it. My wrath burns against them. How long will it be before they attain purity?

⁶ For this [calf] too is from Israel; a craftsman made it; therefore it is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be broken to shivers and go up in flames.

⁷ For they sow the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it shall yield no meal; if it were to yield, strangers and aliens would eat it up.

⁸ Israel is [as if] swallowed up. Already they have become among the nations as a vessel [of cheap, coarse pottery] that is useless.

⁹ For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass taking her own way by herself; Ephraim has hired lovers.

¹⁰ Yes, though with presents they hire [allies] among the nations, now will I gather them up, and in a little while they will sorrow and begin to diminish [their gifts] because of the burden (tribute) imposed by the king of princes [the king of Assyria].

¹¹ For Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning; yes, to him altars are intended for sinning.

¹² I wrote for him the ten thousand things of My law, but they are counted as a strange thing [as something which does not concern him].

¹³ My sacrificial gifts they sacrifice [as a mere form]; yes, they sacrifice flesh and eat it, but the Lord does not accept them. Now He will [earnestly] remember their guilt and iniquity and will punish their sins. They shall return to [another] Egypt [Assyria].^(A)

¹⁴ For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces and idol temples, and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; but I will send a fire upon his cities and it shall devour his palaces and fortified buildings.^(B)

³³ Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unfathomable (inscrutable, unsearchable) are His judgments (His decisions)! And how untraceable (mysterious, undiscoverable) are His ways (His methods, His paths)!

³⁴ For who has known the mind of the Lord and who has understood His thoughts, or who has [ever] been His counselor?^(A)

³⁵ Or who has first given God anything that he might be paid back or that he could claim a recompense?

³⁶ For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. [For all things originate with Him and come from Him; all things live through Him, and all things center in and tend to consummate and to end in Him.] To Him be glory forever! Amen (so be it).