Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Prayer for help in trouble.
Maschil of David, when he was in the cave; a Prayer.
142 I cry with my voice unto Jehovah;
With my voice unto Jehovah do I make supplication.
2 I pour out my complaint before him;
I show before him my trouble.
3 When my spirit [a]was overwhelmed within me,
Thou knewest my path.
In the way wherein I walk
Have they hidden a snare for me.
4 Look on my right hand, and see;
For there is no man that knoweth me:
Refuge hath failed me;
No man careth for my soul.
5 I cried unto thee, O Jehovah;
I said, Thou art my refuge,
My portion in the land of the living.
6 Attend unto my cry;
For I am brought very low:
Deliver me from my persecutors;
For they are stronger than I.
7 Bring my soul out of prison,
That I may give thanks unto thy name:
The righteous shall [b]compass me about;
For thou wilt deal bountifully with me.
3 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set to Shigionoth.
2 O Jehovah, I have heard [a]the report of thee, and [b]am afraid:
O Jehovah, revive thy work in the midst of the years;
In the midst of the years make it known;
In wrath remember mercy.
3 God [c]came from Teman,
And the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah
His glory covered the heavens,
And the earth was full of his praise.
4 And his brightness was as the light;
He had [d]rays coming forth [e]from his hand;
And there was the hiding of his power.
5 Before him went the pestilence,
And [f]fiery bolts went forth at his feet.
6 He stood, and [g]measured the earth;
He beheld, and drove asunder the nations;
And the eternal mountains were scattered;
The everlasting hills did bow;
[h]His goings were as of old.
7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction;
The curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.
8 Was Jehovah displeased with the rivers?
Was thine anger against the rivers,
Or thy wrath against the sea,
That thou didst ride upon thy horses,
Upon thy chariots of salvation?
9 Thy bow was made quite bare;
[i]The oaths to the tribes were a sure word. Selah
Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.
10 The mountains saw thee, and [j]were afraid;
The tempest of waters passed by;
The deep uttered its voice,
And lifted up its hands on high.
11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation,
At the light of thine arrows as they went,
At the shining of thy glittering spear.
12 Thou didst march through the land in indignation;
Thou didst thresh the nations in anger.
13 Thou [k]wentest forth for the salvation of thy people,
[l]For the salvation of thine anointed;
[m]Thou [n]woundest the head out of the house of the wicked man,
Laying bare the foundation even unto the neck. Selah
14 Thou [o]didst pierce with his own staves the head of his [p]warriors:
They came as a whirlwind to scatter me;
Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.
15 Thou [q]didst tread the sea with thy horses,
The [r]heap of mighty waters.
16 I heard, and my body trembled,
My lips quivered at the voice;
Rottenness entereth into my bones, and I tremble in my place;
Because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble,
[s]For the coming up of the people that invadeth us.
5 Now I desire to put you in remembrance, though ye know all things once for all, that [a]the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, [b]afterward destroyed them that believed not. 6 And angels that kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation, he hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, having in like manner with these given themselves over to fornication and gone after strange flesh, are set forth [c]as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire. 8 Yet in like manner these also in their dreamings defile the flesh, and set at nought dominion, and rail at [d]dignities. 9 But Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. 10 But these rail at whatsoever things they know not: and what they understand naturally, like the creatures without reason, in these things are they [e]destroyed. 11 Woe unto them! for they went in the way of Cain, and [f]ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah. 12 These are they who are [g]hidden rocks in your love-feasts when they feast with you, shepherds that without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 13 wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own [h]shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved for ever. 14 And to these also Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, Behold, the Lord came with [i]ten thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness which they have ungodly wrought, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. 16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their lusts (and their mouth speaketh great swelling words), showing respect of persons for the sake of advantage.
17 But ye, beloved, remember ye the words which have been spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; 18 that they said to you, In the last time there shall be mockers, walking after [j]their own ungodly lusts. 19 These are they who make separations, [k]sensual, having not the Spirit. 20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
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