Our first reading is from Psalm 55

May the Lord bless you as you receive his word.

God, listen to my prayer. Pay attention to my cry for help. Hear me and answer me. My thoughts upset me. I’m very troubled. I’m troubled by what my enemies say about me. I’m upset because they say they will harm me. They cause me all kinds of suffering. When they are angry, they attack me with their words. I feel great pain deep down inside me. The terrors of death have fallen on me. Fear and trembling have taken hold of me. Panic has overpowered me.

I said, “I wish I had wings like a dove! Then I would fly away and be at rest. I would escape to a place far away. I would stay out in the desert. I would hurry to my place of safety. It would be far away from the winds and storms I’m facing.”

Lord, confuse the sinners and keep them from understanding one another. I see people destroying things and fighting in the city. Day and night they prowl around on top of its walls. The city is full of crime and trouble. Forces that destroy are at work inside it. Its streets are full of people who cheat others and take advantage of them.

If an enemy were making fun of me, I could stand it. If he were getting ready to oppose me, I could hide. But it’s you, someone like myself. It’s my companion, my close friend. We used to enjoy good friendship at the house of God. We used to walk together among those who came to worship.

Let death take my enemies by surprise. Let them be buried alive, because their hearts and homes are full of evil.

Our second reading is from 2 Corinthians 7:10-16

I give a command to those who are married. It is a direct command from the Lord, not from me. A wife must not leave her husband. But if she does, she must not get married again. Or she can go back to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.

I also have something to say to everyone else. It is from me, not a direct command from the Lord. Suppose a brother has a wife who is not a believer. If she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And suppose a woman has a husband who is not a believer. If he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. The unbelieving husband has been made holy through his wife. The unbelieving wife has been made holy through her believing husband. If that were not the case, your children would not be pure and “clean.” But as it is, they are holy.

But if the unbeliever leaves, let that person go. In that case, the believer does not have to stay married to the unbeliever. God wants us to live in peace. Wife, how do you know if you will save your husband? Husband, how do you know if you will save your wife?

This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. As you journey on, go with his blessing:

Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping, that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep rest in his peace. May Almighty God bless, preserve, and keep us, this day and forevermore. Amen.