Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Maschil of Asaph.
1 ¶ O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? Why does thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed, this Mount Zion, in which thou hast dwelt.
3 Lift up thy feet unto the eternal desolations, unto every enemy who has done wickedly in the sanctuary.
4 Thine enemies have roared in the midst of thy assemblies; they set up their own banners for signs.
5 Renowned, as one on the way to heaven, he who lifted up axes upon the thick trees for the work of the sanctuary.
6 But now they break down all the carved work thereof with axes and hammers.
7 They have set fire to thy sanctuaries; they have defiled the tabernacle of thy name in the earth.
8 They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them at once; they have burned up all the meeting places of the people of God in the earth.
9 We no longer see our own banners; there is no longer any prophet: neither is there among us any that knows. How long shall this be?
10 O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
11 Why dost thou withdraw thy hand, even thy right hand? Why dost thou hide it in thy bosom.
12 ¶ For God is my King from of old, he who works saving health in the midst of the earth.
13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength; thou didst break the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 Thou didst break the heads of leviathan in pieces and didst give him to be food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 Thou didst cleave the fountain and the river; thou didst dry up mighty rivers.
16 The day is thine, the night also is thine; thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth; thou hast made summer and winter.
18 ¶ Remember this, that the enemy has spoken against the LORD and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
19 O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the beasts; forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
20 Have respect unto the covenant; for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.
21 O let not the oppressed return ashamed; the poor and destitute shall praise thy name.
22 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause; remember how the foolish man reproaches thee daily.
23 Forget not the voices of thine enemies; the tumult of those that rise up against thee increases continually.
8 ¶ Woe unto those that join house to house, that lay field to field, until they have done away with the borders! Will ye dwell alone in the midst of the earth?
9 In my ears, the LORD of the hosts said, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.
10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.
11 Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning that they may continue their drunkenness; that continue until night until wine inflames them!
12 And the harp and the viol, the tambourine and flutes and wine are in their feasts; but they do not regard the work of the LORD, nor consider the work of his hands.
13 Therefore my people are gone into captivity because they have no knowledge; their glory died of hunger, and their multitude dried up of thirst.
14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged himself and opened his mouth without measure; and their glory, and their multitude descended into it and their pomp and he that rejoiced in him.
15 And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:
16 But the LORD of the hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God, that is holy, shall be sanctified with righteousness.
17 Then the lambs shall be fed after their manner, and strangers shall eat the fat ones that are forsaken.
18 ¶ Woe unto those that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope,
19 that say, Let him make speed and hasten his work that we may see it, and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come that we may know it!
20 Woe unto those that call evil good and good evil; that put darkness for light and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe unto those that are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight!
22 Woe unto those that are mighty to drink wine and men of strength to mingle strong drink;
23 who justify the wicked for bribes and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
4 ¶ Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2 In this know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in flesh is of God:
3 And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ is come in flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, of which ye have heard that it should come, and that now it is already in the world.
4 ¶ Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
5 They are of the world; therefore, they speak of the world, and the world hears them.
6 We are of God; he that knows God hears us; he that is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
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