Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 58

To the Chief Musician; [set to the tune of] “Do Not Destroy.” A record of memorable thoughts of David.

¹ Do you indeed in silence speak righteousness, O you mighty ones? [Or is the righteousness, rightness, and justice you should speak quite dumb?] Do you judge fairly and uprightly, O you sons of men?

² No, in your heart you devise wickedness; you deal out in the land the violence of your hands.

³ The ungodly are perverse and estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.

⁴ Their poison is like the venom of a serpent; they are like the deaf adder or asp that stops its ear,

⁵ Which listens not to the voice of charmers or of the enchanter never casting spells so cunningly.

⁶ Break their teeth, O God, in their mouths; break out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord.

⁷ Let them melt away as water which runs on apace; when he aims his arrows, let them be as if they were headless or split apart.

⁸ Let them be as a snail dissolving slime as it passes on or as a festering sore which wastes away, like [the child to which] a woman gives untimely birth that has not seen the sun.

⁹ Before your pots can feel the thorns [that are placed under them for fuel], He will take them away as with a whirlwind, the green and the burning ones alike.

¹⁰ The [unyieldingly] righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.

¹¹ Men will say, Surely there is a reward for the [uncompromisingly] righteous; surely there is a God Who judges on the earth.

²³ How can you say, I am not defiled; I have not gone after the Baals [other gods]? Look at your way in the valley; know what you have done. You are a restive young female camel [in the uncontrollable violence of her brute passion eagerly] running hither and thither,

²⁴ Or [you have the untamed and reckless nature of] a wild donkey used to the desert, in her heat sniffing the wind [for the scent of a male]. In her mating season who can restrain her? No males seeking her need weary themselves; in her month they will find her [seeking them].

²⁵ [Cease from your mad running after idols, from which you get nothing but bitter injury.] Keep your feet from being unshod and your throat from thirst. But you said, It is hopeless! For I have loved strangers and foreigners, and after them I will go.

²⁶ As the thief is brought to shame when he is caught, so shall the house of Israel be brought to shame—they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets—

²⁷ [Inasmuch as] they say to a tree, You are my father, and to a stone, You gave me birth. For they have turned their backs to Me and not their faces; but in the time of their trouble, they say, Arise [O Lord] and save us!

²⁸ But where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise if they can save you in the time of your trouble! For [as many as] the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah. [Surely so many handmade idols should be able to help you!]

²⁹ Why do you complain and remonstrate against My wrath? You all have rebelled and revolted against Me, says the Lord.

³⁰ In vain have I stricken your children (your people); they received no discipline (no correction). Your own sword devoured your prophets like a destroying lion.

³¹ O generation [that you are]! Behold, consider, and regard the word of the Lord: Have I been a wilderness to Israel [like a land without food]? A land of deep darkness [like a way without light]? Why do My people say, We have broken loose [we are free and will roam at large]; we will come no more to You?

³² Can a maid forget and neglect [to wear] her ornaments, or a bride her [marriage] girdle [with its significance like that of a wedding ring]? Yet My people have forgotten Me, days without number.

³³ How you deck yourself and direct your way to procure [adulterous] love! Because of it even wicked women have learned [indecent] ways from you.

³⁴ Also on your skirts is found the lifeblood of the persons of the innocent poor; you did not find them housebreaking, nor have I found it out by secret search. But it is because of [your lust for idolatry that you have done] all these things—[that is everywhere evident.]

³⁵ Yet you keep saying, I am innocent; surely His anger has turned away from Me. Behold, I will bring you to judgment and will plead against you because you say, I have not sinned.

³⁶ Why do you gad or wander about so much to change your way? You shall be put to shame by Egypt as you were put to shame by Assyria.

³⁷ From [Egypt] also you will come away with your hands upon your head, for the Lord has rejected those in whom you confide, and you will not prosper with [respect to] them.

⁷ Remember your leaders and superiors in authority [for it was they] who brought to you the Word of God. Observe attentively and consider their manner of living (the outcome of their well-spent lives) and imitate their faith (^[a]their conviction that God exists and is the Creator and Ruler of all things, the Provider and Bestower of eternal salvation through Christ, and their ^[b]leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness).

⁸ Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is [always] the same, yesterday, today, [yes] and forever (to the ages).

⁹ Do not be carried about by different and varied and alien teachings; for it is good for the heart to be established and ennobled and strengthened by means of grace (God’s favor and spiritual blessing) and not [to be devoted to] foods [rules of diet and ritualistic meals], which bring no [spiritual] benefit or profit to those who observe them.

¹⁰ We have an altar from which those who serve and ^[c]worship in the tabernacle have no right to eat.

¹¹ For when the blood of animals is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin, the victims’ bodies are burned outside the limits of the camp.^(A)

¹² Therefore Jesus also suffered and died outside the [city’s] gate in order that He might purify and consecrate the people through [the shedding of] His own blood and set them apart as holy [for God].

¹³ Let us then go forth [from all that would prevent us] to Him outside the camp [at Calvary], bearing the contempt and abuse and shame with Him.^(B)

¹⁴ For here we have no permanent city, but we are looking for the one which is to come.

¹⁵ Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name.^(C)

¹⁶ Do not forget or neglect to do kindness and good, to be generous and distribute and contribute to the needy [of the church ^[d]as embodiment and proof of fellowship], for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

¹⁷ Obey your spiritual leaders and submit to them [continually recognizing their authority over you], for they are constantly keeping watch over your souls and guarding your spiritual welfare, as men who will have to render an account [of their trust]. [Do your part to] let them do this with gladness and not with sighing and groaning, for that would not be profitable to you [either].

¹⁸ Keep praying for us, for we are convinced that we have a good (clear) conscience, that we want to walk uprightly and live a noble life, acting honorably and in complete honesty in all things.

¹⁹ And I beg of you [to pray for us] the more earnestly, in order that I may be restored to you the sooner.

²⁰ Now may the God of peace [Who is the Author and the Giver of peace], Who brought again from among the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood [that sealed, ratified] the everlasting agreement (covenant, testament),^(D)

²¹ Strengthen (complete, perfect) and make you what you ought to be and equip you with everything good that you may carry out His will; [while He Himself] works in you and accomplishes that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ (the Messiah); to Whom be the glory forever and ever (to the ages of the ages). Amen (so be it).