Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
10 Why standest Thou afar off, O Lord? Why hidest Thou Thyself in times of trouble?
2 The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor; let them be caught in the devices that they have contrived.
3 For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous whom the Lord abhorreth.
4 The wicked, in the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God; God is not in all his thoughts.
5 His ways are always grievous; Thy judgments are far above, out of his sight; as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them.
6 He hath said in his heart, “I shall not be moved, for I shall never be in adversity.”
7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud; under his tongue is mischief and vanity.
8 He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages; in secret places doth he murder the innocent; his eyes are privily set against the poor.
9 He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den; he lieth in wait to catch the poor; he doth catch the poor when he draweth him into his net.
10 He croucheth and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones.
11 He hath said in his heart, “God hath forgotten; He hideth His face, He will never see it.”
12 Arise, O Lord! O God, lift up Thine hand! Forget not the humble.
13 Why doth the wicked contemn God? He hath said in his heart, “Thou wilt not keep account.”
14 But Thou hast seen it, for Thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with Thy hand. The poor committeth himself unto Thee; Thou art the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break Thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man; seek out his wickedness until Thou find none.
16 The Lord is King for ever and ever; the heathen have perished out of His land.
17 Lord, Thou hast heard the desire of the humble; Thou wilt prepare their heart, Thou wilt cause Thine ear to hear,
18 to judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.
16 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to Me; for I will not hear thee.
17 “Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger.
19 Do they provoke Me to anger? saith the Lord. Do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?
20 Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold, Mine anger and My fury shall be poured out upon this place — upon man and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn and shall not be quenched.
21 “‘Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices and eat flesh.
22 For I spoke not unto your fathers nor commanded them, in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.
23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, “Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be My people; and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.”
24 But they hearkened not nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward.
25 Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day, I have even sent unto you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.
26 Yet they hearkened not unto Me nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck; they did worse than their fathers.’
7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth:
8 I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. For thou hast a little strength, and hast kept My Word, and hast not denied My name.
9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but do lie — behold, I will make them to come and worship at thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
10 Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth.
11 Behold, I come quickly; hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more; and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God, and I will write upon him My new name.
13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches!’
Copyright © 1994 by Deuel Enterprises, Inc.