Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
58 (0) For the leader. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” By David, a mikhtam:
2 (1) [Rulers,] does your silence really speak justice?
Are you judging people fairly?
3 (2) [No!] In your hearts you devise wrongs,
your hands dispense violence in the land.
4 (3) From the womb, the wicked are estranged,
liars on the wrong path since birth.
5 (4) Their venom is like snake’s venom;
they are like a serpent that stops its ears,
6 (5) so as not to hear the voice of the charmer,
no matter how well he plays.
7 (6) God, break their teeth in their mouth!
Shatter the fangs of these lions, Adonai!
8 (7) May they vanish like water that drains away.
May their arrows be blunted when they aim their bows.
9 (8) May they be like a slug that melts as it moves,
like a stillborn baby that never sees the sun.
10 (9) Before your cook-pots feel the heat of the burning thorns,
may he blow them away, green and blazing alike.
11 (10) The righteous will rejoice to see vengeance done,
they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked;
12 (11) and people will say, “Yes, the righteous are rewarded;
there is, after all, a God who judges the earth.”
3 [Adonai] says:
“If a man divorces his wife,
and she leaves him and marries another man,
then if the first one marries her again,
that land will be completely defiled.
But you prostituted yourself to many lovers,
yet you want to return to me?” says Adonai.
2 “Raise your eyes to the bare hills, take a look:
where have you not had sex?
You sat by the roadsides waiting for them
like a nomad in the desert.
You have defiled the land
with your prostitution and wickedness.
3 For this reason the showers have been withheld,
there has been no rain in the spring;
still you maintain a whore’s brazen look
and refuse to be ashamed.
4 Didn’t you just now cry to me,
‘My father, you are my friend from my youth’? —
5 [thinking,] ‘He won’t bear a grudge forever, will he?
He wouldn’t maintain it right to the end.’
You say this, but you keep doing evil things,
you just do whatever you want.”
6 In the days of Yoshiyahu the king, Adonai asked me, “Have you seen the things that backsliding Isra’el has been doing? She goes up on every bare hill and under every green tree and prostitutes herself there. 7 I said that after she had done all these things, she would return to me; but she hasn’t returned. Meanwhile, her unfaithful sister Y’hudah has been watching. 8 I saw that even though backsliding Isra’el had committed adultery, so that I had sent her away and given her a divorce document, unfaithful Y’hudah her sister was not moved to fear — instead she too went and prostituted herself. 9 The ease with which Isra’el prostituted herself defiled the land, as she committed adultery with stones and with logs. 10 Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Y’hudah has not returned to me wholeheartedly; she only makes a pretense of it,” said Adonai.
11 Then Adonai said to me, “Backsliding Isra’el has proved herself more righteous than unfaithful Y’hudah. 12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north:
‘“Return, backsliding Isra’el,” says Adonai.
“I will not frown on you, for I am merciful,” says Adonai.
“I will not bear a grudge forever.
13 Only acknowledge your guilt,
that you have committed crimes
against Adonai your God,
that you were promiscuous with strangers
under every green tree,
and that you have not paid attention
to my voice,” says Adonai.
14 “Return, backsliding children,” says Adonai;
“for I am your master.
I will take you, one from a city,
two from a family, and bring you to Tziyon.
1 From: Sha’ul, God’s slave and an emissary of Yeshua the Messiah, sent to promote among God’s chosen people the trust and knowledge of truth which lead to godliness 2 and which are based on the certain hope of eternal life. God, who does not lie, promised that life before the beginning of time 3 but made public this word of his in its own season through a proclamation with which I have been entrusted by order of God, our Deliverer.
4 To: Titus, a true son in the faith we share:
Grace and shalom from God the Father and from the Messiah Yeshua, our Deliverer.
5 The reason I left you in Crete was so that you might attend to the matters still not in order and appoint congregation leaders in each city — those were my instructions. 6 A leader must be blameless, husband to one wife, with believing children who do not have a reputation for being wild or rebellious. 7 For an overseer, as someone entrusted with God’s affairs, must be blameless — he must not be self-willed or quick-tempered, he must not drink excessively, get into fights or be greedy for dishonest gain. 8 On the contrary, he must be hospitable, devoted to good, sober-mindedness, uprightness, holiness and self-control. 9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy Message that agrees with the doctrine; so that by his sound teaching he will be able to exhort and encourage, and also to refute those who speak against it.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.