Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Folly and Wickedness of Men.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
14 The fool has (A)said in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they have committed abominable [a]deeds;
There is (B)no one who does good.
2 The Lord has (C)looked down from heaven upon the sons of men
To see if there are any who [b](D)understand,
Who (E)seek after God.
3 They have all (F)turned aside, together they have become corrupt;
There is (G)no one who does good, not even one.
Judah Threatened with Invasion
4 “If you will (A)return, O Israel,” declares the Lord,
“Then you should return to Me.
And (B)if you will put away your detested things from My presence,
And will not waver,
2 And you will (C)swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’
(D)In truth, in justice and in righteousness;
Then the (E)nations will bless themselves in Him,
And (F)in Him they will glory.”
3 For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem,
“[a](G)Break up your fallow ground,
And (H)do not sow among thorns.
4 “(I)Circumcise yourselves to the Lord
And remove the foreskins of your heart,
Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
Or else My (J)wrath will go forth like fire
And burn with (K)none to quench it,
Because of the evil of your deeds.”
5 Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say,
“(L)Blow the trumpet in the land;
Cry aloud and say,
‘(M)Assemble yourselves, and let us go
Into the fortified cities.’
6 “Lift up a (N)standard toward Zion!
Seek refuge, do not stand still,
For I am bringing (O)evil from the north,
And great destruction.
7 “A (P)lion has gone up from his thicket,
And a (Q)destroyer of nations has set out;
He has gone out from his place
To (R)make your land a waste.
Your cities will be ruins
Without inhabitant.
8 “For this, (S)put on sackcloth,
Lament and wail;
For the (T)fierce anger of the Lord
Has not turned back from us.”
9 “It shall come about in that day,” declares the Lord, “that the (U)heart of the king and the heart of the princes will fail; and the priests will be appalled and the (V)prophets will be astounded.”
10 Then I said, “Ah, Lord [b]God! Surely You have utterly (W)deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘(X)You will have peace’; whereas a sword touches the [c]throat.”
The Rise of False Prophets
2 But (A)false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be (B)false teachers (C)among you, who will (D)secretly introduce (E)destructive heresies, even (F)denying the (G)Master who (H)bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Many will follow their (I)sensuality, and because of them (J)the way of the truth will be (K)maligned; 3 and in their (L)greed they will (M)exploit you with (N)false words; (O)their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
4 For (P)if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and (Q)committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare (R)the ancient world, but preserved (S)Noah, a [a]preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a (T)flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 and if He (U)condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an (V)example to those who would (W)live ungodly lives thereafter; 7 and if He (X)rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the (Y)sensual conduct of (Z)unprincipled men 8 (for by what he saw and heard that (AA)righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), 9 (AB)then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from [b]temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the (AC)day of judgment, 10 and especially those who [c](AD)indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and (AE)despise authority.
Daring, (AF)self-willed, they do not tremble when they (AG)revile angelic [d]majesties,
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