Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 60

To the Chief Musician; [set to the tune of] “The Lily of the Testimony.” A poem of David intended to record memorable thoughts and to teach; when he had striven with the Arameans of Mesopotamia and the Arameans of Zobah, and when Joab returned and smote twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

¹ O God, You have rejected us and cast us off, broken down [our defenses], and scattered us; You have been angry—O restore us and turn Yourself to us again!

² You have made the land to quake and tremble, You have rent it [open]; repair its breaches, for it shakes and totters.

³ You have made Your people suffer hard things; You have given us to drink wine that makes us reel and be dazed.

⁴ [But now] You have set up a banner for those who fear and worshipfully revere You [to which they may flee from the bow], a standard displayed because of the truth. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁵ That Your beloved ones may be delivered, save with Your right hand and answer us [or me].

⁶ God has spoken in His holiness [in His promises]: I will rejoice, I will divide and portion out [the land] Shechem and the Valley of Succoth [west to east].

⁷ Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is My helmet (the defense of My head); Judah is My scepter and My lawgiver.

⁸ Moab is My washpot [reduced to vilest servitude]; upon Edom I cast My shoe in triumph; over Philistia I raise the shout of victory.

⁹ Who will bring me [David] into the strong city [of Petra]? Who will lead me into Edom?

¹⁰ Have You not rejected us, O God? And will You not go forth, O God, with our armies?

¹¹ O give us help against the adversary, for vain (ineffectual and to no purpose) is the help or salvation of man.

¹² Through God we shall do valiantly, for He it is Who shall tread down our adversaries.

¹² Ephraim surrounds Me with lies and the house of Israel with deceit, and Judah is not yet steadfast with God, with the faithful Holy One.

12 Ephraim herds and feeds on the wind and pursues the [parching] east wind; every day he increases lies and violence, and a covenant is made with Assyria and oil is carried to Egypt.^(A)

² The Lord has also a controversy (a pleading contention) with Judah, and will punish Jacob by visiting upon him according to his ways; according to his doings will He recompense him.

³ He took his brother by the heel in [their mother’s] womb, and in the strength [of his manhood] he contended and had power with God.^(B)

⁴ Yes, he had power over the ^[a]Angel [of the Lord] and prevailed; he wept and sought His favor. He met Him in Bethel, and there [God] spoke with [him and through him with] us—^(C)

⁵ Even the Lord the God of hosts, the name of Him [Who spoke with Jacob] is the Lord.

⁶ Therefore return to your God! Hold fast to love and mercy, to righteousness and justice, and wait [expectantly] for your God continually!

⁷ Canaan [Israel—whose ideals have sunk to those of Canaan] is a trader; the balances of deceit are in his hand; he loves to oppress and defraud.

⁸ Ephraim has said, Ah, but I have become rich; I have gained for myself wealth. All my profits shall bring on me no iniquity that would be sin. [But all his profits will never offset nor suffice to expiate the guilt which he has incurred.]^(D)

⁹ But I [Who] am the Lord your God from [when you became a nation in] the land of Egypt will yet make you to dwell in tents, as in the days of the appointed and solemn Feast [of Tabernacles].^(E)

¹⁰ I have also spoken to [you by] the prophets, and I have multiplied visions [for you] and [have appealed to you] through parables acted out by the prophets.

¹¹ If Gilead is given over to idolatry, they shall come to nought and be mere waste; if they [insult God by] sacrificing bullocks in Gilgal [on heathen altars], their altars shall be like heaps in the furrows of the fields.

¹² Jacob fled into the open country of Aram or Padan-aram, and [there] Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he herded sheep.^(F)

¹³ And by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was [Israel] preserved.

¹⁴ Ephraim has provoked most bitter anger; therefore shall his blood [guilt] be left upon him, and his disgrace and reproach shall his Lord return upon him.

¹⁸ Wives, be subject to your husbands [subordinate and adapt yourselves to them], as is right and fitting and your proper duty in the Lord.

¹⁹ Husbands, love your wives [be affectionate and sympathetic with them] and do not be harsh or bitter or resentful toward them.

²⁰ Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord.

²¹ Fathers, do not provoke or irritate or fret your children [do not be hard on them or harass them], lest they become discouraged and sullen and morose and feel inferior and frustrated. [Do not break their spirit.]

²² Servants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not only when their eyes are on you as pleasers of men, but in simplicity of purpose [with all your heart] because of your reverence for the Lord and as a sincere expression of your devotion to Him.

²³ Whatever may be your task, work at it heartily (from the soul), as [something done] for the Lord and not for men,

²⁴ Knowing [with all certainty] that it is from the Lord [and not from men] that you will receive the inheritance which is your [real] reward. [The One Whom] you are actually serving [is] the Lord Christ (the Messiah).

²⁵ For he who deals wrongfully will [reap the fruit of his folly and] be punished for his wrongdoing. And [with God] there is no partiality [no matter what a person’s position may be, whether he is the slave or the master].

4 Masters, [on your part] deal with your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that also you have a Master in heaven.^(A)