The Third Sunday after Epiphany (Ps) January 26th

Psalm 69:20-36

²⁰    Reproaches have broken my heart,

so that I am in despair.

       I looked for pity, but there was none,

and for comforters, but I found none.

²¹    They gave me poison for food,

and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

²²    Let their own table before them become a snare;

and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.

²³    Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,

and make their loins tremble continually.

²⁴    Pour out your indignation upon them,

and let your burning anger overtake them.

²⁵    May their camp be a desolation;

let no one dwell in their tents.

²⁶    For they persecute him whom you have struck down,

and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.

²⁷    Add to them punishment upon punishment;

may they have no acquittal from you.

²⁸    Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;

let them not be enrolled among the righteous.

²⁹    But I am afflicted and in pain;

let your salvation, O God, set me on high!

³⁰    I will praise the name of God with a song;

I will magnify him with thanksgiving.

³¹    This will please the Lord more than an ox

or a bull with horns and hoofs.

³²    When the humble see it they will be glad;

you who seek God, let your hearts revive.

³³    For the Lord hears the needy

and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.

³⁴    Let heaven and earth praise him,

the seas and everything that moves in them.

³⁵    For God will save Zion

and build up the cities of Judah,

       and people shall dwell there and possess it;

³⁶        the offspring of his servants shall inherit it,

and those who love his name shall dwell in it.

The Fourth [Commandment]

You are to honor your father and your mother.

What is this? Answer:

We are to fear and love God, so that we neither despise nor anger our parents and others in authority, but instead honor, serve, obey, love, and respect them.

The Fifth [Commandment]

You are not to kill.

What is this? Answer:

We are to fear and love God, so that we neither endanger nor harm the lives of our neighbors, but instead help and support them in all of life’s needs.

Blessed Lord, since You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning, grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (A68)