Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Prayer for the Punishment of the Wicked.
For the music director; set to [a]Al-tashheth. A [b]Mikhtam of David.
58 Do you indeed [c]speak righteousness, you [d]gods?
Do you (A)judge [e]fairly, you sons of mankind?
2 No, in heart you (B)practice injustice;
On earth you (C)clear a way for the violence of your hands.
3 The wicked have turned away (D)from the womb;
These who speak lies (E)go astray from [f]birth.
4 They have venom like the (F)venom of a serpent;
Like a deaf cobra that stops up its ear,
5 So that it (G)does not hear the voice of [g](H)charmers,
Or a skillful caster of spells.
6 God, (I)shatter their teeth in their mouth;
Break out the fangs of the young lions, Lord.
7 May they (J)flow away like water that runs off;
When he [h](K)aims his arrows, may they be as [i]headless shafts.
8 May they be like a snail which goes along in slime,
Like the (L)miscarriage of a woman that never sees the sun.
9 Before your (M)pots can feel the fire of thorns
He will (N)sweep them away with a whirlwind, the [j]green and the burning alike.
15 “Then I will give you (A)shepherds [a]after My own heart, who will (B)feed you knowledge and understanding. 16 And it shall be in those days when you become numerous and are fruitful in the land,” declares the Lord, “they will (C)no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor miss it, nor will it be made again. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The (D)Throne of the Lord,’ and (E)all the nations will assemble at it, at Jerusalem, for the (F)name of the Lord; and they will no longer (G)follow the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18 (H)In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together (I)from the land of the north to the (J)land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.
19 “Then I said,
‘How I would set you among [b]My sons
And give you a pleasant land,
The most (K)beautiful inheritance of the nations!’
And I said, ‘You shall call Me, (L)My Father,
And not turn away from following Me.’
20 However, as a woman treacherously leaves her lover,
So you have (M)dealt treacherously with Me,
House of Israel,” declares the Lord.
21 A voice is heard on the (N)bare heights,
The weeping, the pleading of the sons of Israel.
Because they have perverted their way,
They have (O)forgotten the Lord their God.
22 “Return, you faithless sons,
(P)I will heal your faithlessness.”
“Behold, we come to You;
For You are the Lord our God.
23 Certainly (Q)the hills are a deception,
[c]Commotion on the mountains.
Certainly in the (R)Lord our God
Is the salvation of Israel.
24 “But (S)the shame has consumed the product of our fathers’ labor since our youth—their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25 Let us lie down in our (T)shame, and let our humiliation cover us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, (U)from our youth even to this day. And we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”
15 Now when one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “(A)Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”
Parable of the Dinner
16 But He said to him, “(B)A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; 17 and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, because everything is ready now.’ 18 And yet they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I purchased a field and I need to go out to look at it; [a]please consider me excused.’ 19 And another one said, ‘I bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; [b]please consider me excused.’ 20 And another one said, ‘(C)I took a woman as my wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ 21 And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here those who are poor, those with disabilities, those who are blind, and those who are limping.’ 22 And later the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 23 And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the roads and the hedges and press upon them to come in, so that my house will be filled. 24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my dinner.’”
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