Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 52[a]
For the director of music. A maskil[b] of David. When Doeg the Edomite(A) had gone to Saul and told him: “David has gone to the house of Ahimelek.”
1 Why do you boast of evil, you mighty hero?
Why do you boast(B) all day long,(C)
you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God?
2 You who practice deceit,(D)
your tongue plots destruction;(E)
it is like a sharpened razor.(F)
3 You love evil(G) rather than good,
falsehood(H) rather than speaking the truth.[c]
4 You love every harmful word,
you deceitful tongue!(I)
5 Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin:
He will snatch you up and pluck(J) you from your tent;
he will uproot(K) you from the land of the living.(L)
6 The righteous will see and fear;
they will laugh(M) at you, saying,
7 “Here now is the man
who did not make God his stronghold(N)
but trusted in his great wealth(O)
and grew strong by destroying others!”
The Day of the Lord
18 Woe to you who long
for the day of the Lord!(A)
Why do you long for the day of the Lord?(B)
That day will be darkness,(C) not light.(D)
19 It will be as though a man fled from a lion
only to meet a bear,(E)
as though he entered his house
and rested his hand on the wall
only to have a snake bite him.(F)
20 Will not the day of the Lord be darkness,(G) not light—
pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?(H)
21 “I hate,(I) I despise your religious festivals;(J)
your assemblies(K) are a stench to me.
22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings(L) and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.(M)
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.(N)
23 Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.(O)
24 But let justice(P) roll on like a river,
righteousness(Q) like a never-failing stream!(R)
25 “Did you bring me sacrifices(S) and offerings
forty years(T) in the wilderness, people of Israel?
26 You have lifted up the shrine of your king,
the pedestal of your idols,(U)
the star of your god[a]—
which you made for yourselves.
27 Therefore I will send you into exile(V) beyond Damascus,”
says the Lord, whose name is God Almighty.(W)
A Prayer for the Ephesians
14 For this reason I kneel(A) before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches(B) he may strengthen you with power(C) through his Spirit in your inner being,(D) 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts(E) through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted(F) and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people,(G) to grasp how wide and long and high and deep(H) is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge(I)—that you may be filled(J) to the measure of all the fullness of God.(K)
20 Now to him who is able(L) to do immeasurably more than all we ask(M) or imagine, according to his power(N) that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.(O)
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