Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

To the chief Musician. Upon the Gittith. [A Psalm] of Asaph.

81 Sing ye joyously unto God our strength, shout aloud unto the God of Jacob;

¹⁰ I am Jehovah thy God, that brought thee up out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

¹¹ But my people hearkened not to my voice, and Israel would none of me.

¹² So I gave them up unto their own hearts' stubbornness: they walked after their own counsels.

¹³ Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, that Israel had walked in my ways!

¹⁴ I would soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.

¹⁵ The haters of Jehovah would have come cringing unto him; but their time would have been for ever.

¹⁶ And he would have fed them with the finest of wheat; yea, with honey out of the rock would I have satisfied thee.

12 Righteous art thou, Jehovah, when I plead with thee; yet will I speak with thee of [thy] judgments. Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? [wherefore] are all they at ease that deal very treacherously?

² Thou hast planted them, they also have taken root: they advance, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, but far from their reins.

³ But thou, Jehovah, knowest me; thou hast seen me, and proved my heart toward thee. Drag them out like sheep for the slaughter, and set them apart for the day of slaughter.

⁴ How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of all the fields wither? Because of the wickedness of them that dwell therein, the beasts and the birds perish; for they say, He will not see our end.

⁵ If thou hast run with footmen, and they have wearied thee, how wilt thou then contend with horses? And if in a land of peace thou thinkest thyself in security, how wilt thou then do in the swelling of the Jordan?

⁶ For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee, even they have cried aloud after thee. Believe them not, though they speak good [words] unto thee.

⁷ I have forsaken my house, I have cast off my heritage, I have given the beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.

⁸ My heritage is become unto me as a lion in the forest; it hath raised its voice against me: therefore have I hated it.

⁹ My heritage is unto me [as] a speckled bird of prey; the birds of prey round about are against her. Go, assemble all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour.

¹⁰ Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness:

¹¹ they have made it a desolation; desolate, it mourneth unto me: the whole land is made desolate, for no man layeth it to heart.

¹² Spoilers are come upon all heights in the wilderness; for the sword of Jehovah devoureth from one end of the land even to the [other] end of the land: no flesh hath peace.

¹³ They have sown wheat, and they reap thorns; they have put themselves to pain, [and] do not profit. Be ye therefore ashamed of your revenues, because of the fierce anger of Jehovah.

⁷ But the end of all things is drawn nigh: be sober therefore, and be watchful unto prayers;

⁸ but before all things having fervent love among yourselves, because love covers a multitude of sins;

⁹ hospitable one to another, without murmuring;

¹⁰ each according as he has received a gift, ministering it to one another, as good stewards of [the] various grace of God.

¹¹ If any one speak—as oracles of God; if any one minister—as of strength which God supplies; that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom is the glory and the might for the ages of ages. Amen.