Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹ ¶ O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongs; O God, to whom vengeance belongs, show thyself.

² Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.

³ LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?

⁴ How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?

⁵ They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thy heritage.

⁶ They slay the widow and the stranger and murder the fatherless.

⁷ Yet they say, JAH shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.

⁸ Understand, ye carnal ones among the people, and, ye fools, when will ye be wise?

⁹ He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?

¹⁰ He that chastens the Gentiles, shall he not correct? he that teaches man knowledge, shall not he know?

¹¹ The LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.

¹² ¶ Blessed is the man whom thou dost chasten, O JAH, and teach him out of thy law,

¹³ to cause him to rest in the days of adversity, until the pit is dug for the wicked.

¹⁴ For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.

¹⁵ But the judgment shall be returned unto righteousness, and all the upright in heart shall follow it.

¹⁶ Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?

¹⁷ Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul would have quickly dwelt with the dead.

¹⁸ When I said, My foot slips, thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.

¹⁹ In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul.

²⁰ Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, who creates toil under the guise of law?

²¹ They gather themselves together as an army against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent blood.

²² But the LORD is my refuge, and my God is the rock of my trust.

²³ And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.

¹⁸ Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.

¹⁹ And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Why does the LORD our God do all these things unto us? Then thou shalt answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

²⁰ ¶ Declare this in the house of Jacob and publish it in Judah, saying,

²¹ Hear now this, O foolish people and without heart, who have eyes and do not see; who have ears, and do not hear:

²² Do ye not fear me? saith the LORD; will ye not tremble at my presence, who placed the sand for the bound of the sea by an eternal order, which cannot be broken? Storms shall raise themselves up, yet they shall not prevail; their waves shall roar, yet they shall not pass over it.

²³ But this people have a false and rebellious heart; they turned and went.

²⁴ Neither do they say in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God that gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; he shall keep us with the appointed weeks of the harvest.

²⁵ ¶ Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good things from you.

²⁶ For among my people were found wicked men: they lay in wait as he that sets snares; they set a trap of perdition to catch men.

²⁷ As a cage full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit; thus they became great and rich.

²⁸ They are become fat; they shine; yea, they overpass in deeds of wickedness; they did not judge the cause, the cause of the fatherless; with all this they made themselves prosperous; and they did not judge the cause of the poor.

²⁹ Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

³⁰ A horrible and ugly thing is committed in the land:

³¹ The prophets prophesied falsely, and the priests bore rule by their hands; and my people love to have it so. What will ye do in the end thereof?

⁸ ¶ But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day before the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years are as one day.

⁹ ¶ The Lord is not late concerning his promise, as some count lateness, but is patient with us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements, burning, shall be dissolved, and the earth and the works that are in it shall be burned up.

¹¹ ¶ Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

¹² waiting for and desiring earnestly for the coming of the day of God, in which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

¹³ Nevertheless we, according to his promises, wait for new heavens and a new earth, in which dwells righteousness.