Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 11

To the Chief Musician or Choir Leader. [A Psalm] of David.

¹ In the Lord I take refuge [and put my trust]; how can you say to me, Flee like a bird to your mountain?

² For see, the wicked are bending the bow; they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they [furtively] in darkness may shoot at the upright in heart.

³ If the foundations are destroyed, what can the [unyieldingly] righteous do, or what has He [the Righteous One] wrought or accomplished?

⁴ The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven. His eyes behold; His eyelids test and prove the children of men.^(A)

⁵ The Lord tests and proves the [unyieldingly] righteous, but His soul abhors the wicked and him who loves violence.^(B)

⁶ Upon the wicked He will rain quick burning coals or snares; fire, brimstone, and a [dreadful] scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.

⁷ For the Lord is [rigidly] righteous, He loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold His face, or He beholds the upright.

24 Behold, the Lord will make the land and the ^[a]earth empty and make it waste and turn it upside down (twist the face of it) and scatter abroad its inhabitants.

² And it shall be—as [what happens] with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor.

³ The land and the earth shall be utterly laid waste and utterly pillaged; for the Lord has said this.

⁴ The land and the earth mourn and wither, the world languishes and withers, the high ones of the people [and the heavens with the earth] languish.

⁵ The land and the earth also are defiled by their inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, disregarded the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant.^(A)

⁶ Therefore a curse devours the land and the earth, and they who dwell in it suffer the punishment of their guilt. Therefore the inhabitants of the land and the earth are scorched and parched [under the curse of God’s wrath], and few people are left.^(B)

⁷ The new wine mourns, the vine languishes; all the merrymakers sigh.

⁸ The mirth of the timbrels is stilled, the noise of those who rejoice ends, the joy of the lyre is stopped.

⁹ No more will they drink wine with a song; strong drink will be bitter to those who drink it.

¹⁰ The wasted city of emptiness and confusion is broken down; every house is shut up so that no one may enter.

¹¹ There is crying in the streets for wine; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is banished and gone into captivity.

¹² In the city is left desolation, and its gate is battered and destroyed.

¹³ For so shall it be in the midst of the earth among the peoples, as the shaking and beating of an olive tree, or as the gleaning when the vintage is done [and only a small amount of the fruit remains].

¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when he was put to the test [while the testing of his faith was ^[a]still in progress], ^[b]had already brought Isaac for an offering; he who had gladly received and welcomed [God’s] promises was ready to sacrifice his only son,^(A)

¹⁸ Of whom it was said, Through Isaac shall your descendants be reckoned.^(B)

¹⁹ For he reasoned that God was able to raise [him] up even from among the dead. Indeed in the sense that Isaac was figuratively dead [potentially sacrificed], he did [actually] receive him back from the dead.

²⁰ [With eyes of] faith Isaac, looking far into the future, invoked blessings upon Jacob and Esau.^(C)

²¹ [Prompted] by faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and bowed in prayer over the top of his staff.^(D)

²² [Actuated] by faith Joseph, when nearing the end of his life, referred to [the promise of God for] the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his own bones.^(E)

²³ [Prompted] by faith Moses, after his birth, was kept concealed for three months by his parents, because they saw how comely the child was; and they were not overawed and terrified by the king’s decree.^(F)

²⁴ [Aroused] by faith Moses, when he had grown to maturity and ^[c]become great, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,^(G)

²⁵ Because he preferred to share the oppression [suffer the hardships] and bear the shame of the people of God rather than to have the fleeting enjoyment of a sinful life.

²⁶ He considered the contempt and abuse and shame [borne for] the Christ (the Messiah Who was to come) to be greater wealth than all the treasures of Egypt, for he looked forward and away to the reward (recompense).

²⁷ [Motivated] by faith he left Egypt behind him, being unawed and undismayed by the wrath of the king; for he never flinched but held staunchly to his purpose and endured steadfastly as one who gazed on Him Who is invisible.^(H)

²⁸ By faith (simple trust and confidence in God) he instituted and carried out the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood [on the doorposts], so that the destroyer of the firstborn (the angel) might not touch those [of the children of Israel].^(I)