Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 74[a]
A well-written song[b] by Asaph.
74 Why, O God, have you permanently rejected us?[c]
Why does your anger burn[d] against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember your people[e] whom you acquired in ancient times,
whom you rescued[f] so they could be your very own nation,[g]
as well as Mount Zion, where you dwell.
3 Hurry[h] to the permanent ruins,
and to all the damage the enemy has done to the temple.[i]
4 Your enemies roar[j] in the middle of your sanctuary;[k]
they set up their battle flags.[l]
5 They invade like lumberjacks
swinging their axes in a thick forest.[m]
6 And now[n] they are tearing down[o] all its engravings[p]
with axes[q] and crowbars.[r]
7 They set your sanctuary on fire;
they desecrate your dwelling place by knocking it to the ground.[s]
8 They say to themselves,[t]
“We will oppress all of them.”[u]
They burn down all the places in the land where people worship God.[v]
9 We do not see any signs of God’s presence;[w]
there are no longer any prophets,[x]
and we have no one to tell us how long this will last.[y]
10 How long, O God, will the adversary hurl insults?
Will the enemy blaspheme your name forever?
11 Why do you remain inactive?
Intervene and destroy him.[z]
12 But God has been my[aa] king from ancient times,
performing acts of deliverance on the earth.[ab]
13 You destroyed[ac] the sea by your strength;
you shattered the heads of the sea monster[ad] in the water.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;[ae]
you fed[af] him to the people who live along the coast.[ag]
15 You broke open the spring and the stream;[ah]
you dried up perpetually flowing rivers.[ai]
16 You established the cycle of day and night;[aj]
you put the moon[ak] and sun in place.[al]
17 You set up all the boundaries[am] of the earth;
you created the cycle of summer and winter.[an]
18 Remember how[ao] the enemy hurls insults, O Lord,[ap]
and how a foolish nation blasphemes your name.
19 Do not hand the life of your dove[aq] over to a wild animal.
Do not continue to disregard[ar] the lives of your oppressed people.
20 Remember your covenant promises,[as]
for the dark regions of the earth are full of places where violence rules.[at]
21 Do not let the afflicted be turned back in shame.
Let the oppressed and poor praise your name.[au]
22 Rise up, O God. Defend your honor.[av]
Remember how fools insult you all day long.[aw]
23 Do not disregard[ax] what your enemies say,[ay]
or the unceasing shouts of those who defy you.[az]
27 At that time[a] the Lord will punish
with his destructive,[b] great, and powerful sword
Leviathan the fast-moving[c] serpent,
Leviathan the squirming serpent;
he will kill the sea monster.[d]
2 When that time comes,[e]
sing about a delightful vineyard![f]
3 “I, the Lord, protect it;[g]
I water it regularly.[h]
I guard it night and day,
so no one can harm it.[i]
4 I am not angry.
I wish I could confront some thorns and briers!
Then I would march against them[j] for battle;
I would set them[k] all on fire,
5 unless they became my subjects[l]
and made peace with me;
let them make peace with me.”[m]
6 The time is coming when Jacob will take root;[n]
Israel will blossom and grow branches.
The produce[o] will fill the surface of the world.[p]
7 Has the Lord struck down Israel as he did their oppressors?[q]
Has Israel been killed like their enemies?[r]
8 When you summon her for divorce, you prosecute her;[s]
he drives her away[t] with his strong wind in the day of the east wind.[u]
9 So in this way Jacob’s sin will be forgiven,[v]
and this is how they will show they are finished sinning:[w]
They will make all the stones of the altars[x]
like crushed limestone,
and the Asherah poles and the incense altars will no longer stand.[y]
10 For the fortified city[z] is left alone;
it is a deserted settlement
and abandoned like the wilderness.
Calves[aa] graze there;
they lie down there
and eat its branches bare.[ab]
11 When its branches get brittle,[ac] they break;
women come and use them for kindling.[ad]
For these people lack understanding,[ae]
therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;
the one who formed them has no mercy on them.
12 At that time[af] the Lord will shake the tree,[ag] from the Euphrates River[ah] to the Stream of Egypt. Then you will be gathered up one by one, O Israelites.[ai] 13 At that time[aj] a large[ak] trumpet will be blown, and the ones lost[al] in the land of Assyria will come, as well as the refugees in[am] the land of Egypt. They will worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
Cleansing the Temple
45 Then[a] Jesus[b] entered the temple courts[c] and began to drive out those who were selling things there,[d] 46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be a house of prayer,’[e] but you have turned it into a den[f] of robbers!”[g]
47 Jesus[h] was teaching daily in the temple courts. The chief priests and the experts in the law[i] and the prominent leaders among the people were seeking to assassinate[j] him, 48 but[k] they could not find a way to do it,[l] for all the people hung on his words.[m]
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