Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Plea for Relief from Persecutors
A (A)Contemplation[a] of David. A Prayer (B)when he was in the cave.
142 I cry out to the Lord with my voice;
With my voice to the Lord I make my supplication.
2 I pour out my complaint before Him;
I declare before Him my trouble.
3 When my spirit [b]was (C)overwhelmed within me,
Then You knew my path.
In the way in which I walk
They have secretly (D)set a snare for me.
4 Look on my right hand and see,
For there is no one who acknowledges me;
Refuge has failed me;
No one cares for my soul.
5 I cried out to You, O Lord:
I said, “You are my refuge,
My portion in the land of the living.
6 [c]Attend to 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 (E)praise Your name;
The righteous shall surround me,
For You shall deal bountifully with me.”
The Prophet’s Prayer
3 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, on [a]Shigionoth.
2 O Lord, I have heard Your speech and was afraid;
O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years!
In the midst of the years make it known;
In wrath remember mercy.
3 God came from Teman,
The Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah
His glory covered the heavens,
And the earth was full of His praise.
4 His brightness was like the light;
He had rays flashing from His hand,
And there His power was hidden.
5 Before Him went pestilence,
And fever followed at His feet.
6 He stood and measured the earth;
He looked and startled the nations.
(A)And the everlasting mountains were scattered,
The perpetual hills bowed.
His ways are everlasting.
7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction;
The curtains of the land of Midian trembled.
8 O Lord, were You displeased with the rivers,
Was Your anger against the rivers,
Was Your wrath against the sea,
That You rode on Your horses,
Your chariots of salvation?
9 Your bow was made quite ready;
Oaths were sworn over Your [b]arrows. Selah
You divided the earth with rivers.
10 The mountains saw You and trembled;
The overflowing of the water passed by.
The deep uttered its voice,
And (B)lifted its hands on high.
11 The (C)sun and moon stood still in their habitation;
At the light of Your arrows they went,
At the shining of Your glittering spear.
12 You marched through the land in indignation;
You [c]trampled the nations in anger.
13 You went forth for the salvation of Your people,
For salvation with Your Anointed.
You struck the head from the house of the wicked,
By laying bare from foundation to neck. Selah
14 You thrust through with his own arrows
The head of his villages.
They came out like a whirlwind to scatter me;
Their rejoicing was like feasting on the poor in secret.
15 (D)You walked through the sea with Your horses,
Through the heap of great waters.
16 When I heard, (E)my body trembled;
My lips quivered at the voice;
Rottenness entered my bones;
And I trembled in myself,
That I might rest in the day of trouble.
When he comes up to the people,
He will invade them with his troops.
Old and New Apostates
5 But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that (A)the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their [a]proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; 7 as (B)Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the [b]vengeance of eternal fire.
8 (C)Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and (D)speak evil of [c]dignitaries. 9 Yet Michael the archangel, in [d]contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, (E)“The Lord rebuke you!” 10 (F)But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. 11 Woe to them! For they have gone in the way (G)of Cain, (H)have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished (I)in the rebellion of Korah.
Apostates Depraved and Doomed
12 These are [e]spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried [f]about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; 13 (J)raging waves of the sea, (K)foaming up their own shame; wandering stars (L)for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the (M)harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
Apostates Predicted
16 These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they (N)mouth great swelling words, (O)flattering people to gain advantage. 17 (P)But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: 18 how they told you that (Q)there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. 19 These are [g]sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.
Maintain Your Life with God
20 But you, beloved, (R)building yourselves up on your most holy faith, (S)praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, (T)looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.