Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Psalm of Asaph.

¹ ¶ O God, the Gentiles are come into thine inheritance; they have defiled the temple of thy holiness; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.

² The dead bodies of thy slaves they have given to be food unto the fowls of the heavens, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.

³ They have shed their blood like water round about Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them.

⁴ We are reproached by our neighbours, scorned, and derided by those that are round about us.

⁵ How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?

⁶ ¶ Pour out thy wrath upon the Gentiles that do not know thee and upon the kingdoms that do not call upon thy name.

⁷ For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his dwelling place.

⁸ O remember not against us former iniquities; let thy tender mercies speedily meet us on the way, for we are very poor.

⁹ Help us, O God, our saving health, for the honor of thy name and deliver us and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake.

¹⁴ ¶ Thus hath the LORD said against all my evil neighbours that touch the heritage which I have caused my people Israel to inherit; Behold, I will pluck them out of their land and pluck out the house of Judah from among them.

¹⁵ And it shall come to pass that after I have plucked them out, I will return and have mercy on them, and will cause them to return, each one to his heritage, and each one to his land.

¹⁶ And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear in my name, saying, The LORD lives; as they taught my people to swear by Baal then they shall be prospered in the midst of my people.

¹⁷ But if they will not hear, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the LORD.

13 ¶ Thus hath the LORD said unto me, Go and buy thee a linen girdle and put it upon thy loins, and thou shalt not put it in water.

² And I bought the girdle according to the word of the LORD and put it on my loins.

³ And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying,

⁴ Take the girdle that thou hast bought, which is upon thy loins, and arise; go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a hole of the rock.

⁵ So I went and hid it in the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.

⁶ And it came to pass after many days that the LORD said unto me, Arise; go to the Euphrates and take from there the girdle, which I commanded thee to hide there.

⁷ Then I went to the Euphrates and dug and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it; and, behold, the girdle was rotted, it was good for nothing.

⁸ Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

⁹ Thus hath the LORD said, After this manner I will cause the pride of Judah to rot and the great pride of Jerusalem.

¹⁰ This evil people that refuses to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart and went after other gods to serve them and to worship them shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.

¹¹ For as the girdle cleaves to the loins of a man, so I have caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people and for fame, and for a praise, and for honour; but they did not hear.

3 ¶ What advantage then has the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?

² Much in every way: first, certainly, that the oracles of God have been entrusted unto them.

³ For what if some of them did not believe? Shall their unbelief have made the truth of God without effect?

⁴ No, in no wise: for God is true, and every man a liar; as it is written, That thou might be justified in thy words and might overcome when thou dost judge.

⁵ And if our iniquity commends the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Shall for this reason God be unjust who sends punishment? (I speak as a man.)

⁶ No, in no wise: for then how shall God judge the world?

⁷ For if the truth of God has more abounded through my lie unto his glory, why even so am I also judged as a sinner?

⁸ And why not say (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say), Let us do evil, that good may come? The condemnation of whom is just.