Psalm 109

¹Be not silent, O God of my praise!
²For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me,
speaking against me with lying tongues.
³They encircle me with words of hate,
and attack me without cause.
⁴In return for my love they accuse me,
but I give myself to prayer.
⁵So they reward me evil for good,
and hatred for my love.
⁶Appoint a wicked man against him;
let an accuser stand at his right hand.
⁷When he is tried, let him come forth guilty;
let his prayer be counted as sin!
⁸May his days be few;
may another take his office!
⁹May his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow!
¹⁰May his children wander about and beg,
seeking food far from the ruins they inhabit!
¹¹May the creditor seize all that he has;
may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil!
¹²Let there be none to extend kindness to him,
nor any to pity his fatherless children!
¹³May his posterity be cut off;
may his name be blotted out in the second generation!
¹⁴May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord,
and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out!
¹⁵Let them be before the Lord continually,
that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth!
¹⁶For he did not remember to show kindness,
but pursued the poor and needy
and the brokenhearted, to put them to death.
¹⁷He loved to curse; let curses come upon him!
He did not delight in blessing; may it be far from him!
¹⁸He clothed himself with cursing as his coat;
may it soak into his body like water,
like oil into his bones!
¹⁹May it be like a garment that he wraps around him,
like a belt that he puts on every day!
²⁰May this be the reward of my accusers from the Lord,
of those who speak evil against my life!
²¹But you, O God my Lord,
deal on my behalf for your name’s sake;
because your steadfast love is good, deliver me!
²²For I am poor and needy,
and my heart is stricken within me.
²³I am gone like a shadow at evening;
I am shaken off like a locust.
²⁴My knees are weak through fasting;
my body has become gaunt, with no fat.
²⁵I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
when they see me, they wag their heads.
²⁶Help me, O Lord my God!
Save me according to your steadfast love!
²⁷Let them know that this is your hand;
you, O Lord, have done it!
²⁸Let them curse, but you will bless!
They arise and are put to shame, but your servant will be glad!
²⁹May my accusers be clothed with dishonor;
may they be wrapped in their own shame as in a cloak!
³⁰With my mouth I will give great thanks to the Lord;
I will praise him in the midst of the throng.
³¹For he stands at the right hand of the needy,
to save him from those who condemn his soul to death.

Old Testament Reading Zechariah 4—5

¹And the angel who talked with me came again and woke me, like a man who is awakened out of his sleep. ²And he said to me, “What do you see?” I said, “I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it. ³And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.” ⁴And I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” ⁵Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.” ⁶Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. ⁷Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’”

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁹“The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. ¹⁰For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.

“These seven are the eyes of the Lord, which range through the whole earth.” ¹¹Then I said to him, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?” ¹²And a second time I answered and said to him, “What are these two branches of the olive trees, which are beside the two golden pipes from which the golden oil is poured out?” ¹³He said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.” ¹⁴Then he said, “These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”

¹Again I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a flying scroll! ²And he said to me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a flying scroll. Its length is twenty cubits, and its width ten cubits.” ³Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the face of the whole land. For everyone who steals shall be cleaned out according to what is on one side, and everyone who swears falsely shall be cleaned out according to what is on the other side. ⁴I will send it out, declares the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter the house of the thief, and the house of him who swears falsely by my name. And it shall remain in his house and consume it, both timber and stones.”

⁵Then the angel who talked with me came forward and said to me, “Lift your eyes and see what this is that is going out.” ⁶And I said, “What is it?” He said, “This is the basket that is going out.” And he said, “This is their iniquity in all the land.” ⁷And behold, the leaden cover was lifted, and there was a woman sitting in the basket! ⁸And he said, “This is Wickedness.” And he thrust her back into the basket, and thrust down the leaden weight on its opening.

⁹Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, two women coming forward! The wind was in their wings. They had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven. ¹⁰Then I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are they taking the basket?” ¹¹He said to me, “To the land of Shinar, to build a house for it. And when this is prepared, they will set the basket down there on its base.”

New Testament Reading Romans 15:14–33

¹⁴I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. ¹⁵But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God ¹⁶to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. ¹⁷In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. ¹⁸For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, ¹⁹by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; ²⁰and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation, ²¹but as it is written,

“Those who have never been told of him will see,
and those who have never heard will understand.”

²²This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you. ²³But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you, ²⁴I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while. ²⁵At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. ²⁶For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. ²⁷They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings. ²⁸When therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you. ²⁹I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.

³⁰I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, ³¹that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, ³²so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company. ³³May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.