Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Davidic Psalm for the dedication of the Temple.
Thanksgiving for Deliverance
30 I exalt you, Lord,
for you have lifted me up,
and my enemies could not gloat over me.
2 Lord, my God!
I cried out to you for help
and you healed me.
3 Lord, you brought me from death;[a]
you kept me alive so that I did not descend into the Pit.[b]
4 You, his godly ones,
sing to the Lord,
give thanks at the mention of his holiness.
5 For his wrath is only momentary;
yet his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may lodge for the night,
but shouts of joy will come in the morning.
6 As for me,
I said in my prosperity,
“I will never be moved.”
7 By your favor, Lord,
you established me as a strong mountain;
Then you hid your face,
and I was dismayed.
8 I cried out to you, Lord,
and I make supplication to the Lord:
9 “What profit is there in my death[c] if I go down to the Pit?[d]
Can dust worship you?
Can it proclaim your faithfulness?”
10 Hear me, Lord,
and have mercy on me!
Lord, help me!
11 You have turned my mourning into dancing;
you took off my sackcloth
and clothed me with a garment of joy,
12 so that I may sing praise to you
and not remain silent.
Lord, my God,
I will give you thanks forever!
16 Because of all this, I weep;
my eyes[a] stream with tears
because far from me
is the comforter of my soul.
My children are sorrowful,
because the enemy has won.
17 Zion spreads out her hands;[b]
no one is there to comfort her.
The Lord has issued an order against[c] Jacob,
that all who are around him are to be his enemies;
Jerusalem has become
unclean among them.
18 The Lord is in the right,
but I rebelled against his commands.
Listen, please, all you people,
and look at my pain—
my young men and women[d]
have gone into captivity.
19 I called out to my lovers,[e]
but they deceived me.
My priests and my elders
have died within the city
while looking for something to eat
to keep themselves alive.
20 Look, Lord, how distressed I am;
all my insides are churning.
My heart is troubled within me,
because I vigorously rebelled.
Outside the sword brings loss of life,
while at home death rules.
21 People[f] heard how I groan,
with no one to comfort me.
All my adversaries have heard about my troubles;
they rejoice that you have caused them.
Bring on the day you have promised,
so my adversaries[g] will become like me.
22 May all of their wickedness come to your attention,
and deal with them
as you have done with me
because of all my transgressions.
For I am constantly groaning,
and my heart is faint.
Encouraged by the Corinthians
2 Make room for us in your hearts![a] We have not treated anyone unjustly, harmed anyone, or cheated anyone. 3 I am not saying this to condemn you. I told you before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together. 4 I have great confidence in you. I am very proud of you. I am very much encouraged. I am overjoyed in all our troubles.
5 For even when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest. We suffered in a number of ways. Outwardly there were conflicts, inwardly there were fears. 6 Yet God, who comforts those who feel miserable, comforted us by the arrival of Titus, 7 and not only by his arrival but also by the comfort he had received from you. He told us about your longing for me, your sorrow, and your eagerness to take my side, and this made me even happier.
8 If I made you sad with my letter, I do not regret it, although I did regret it then. I see that the letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while. 9 Now I am happy, not because you had such sorrow, but because your sorrow led you to repent. For you were sorry in a godly way, and so you were not hurt by us in any way. 10 For having sorrow in a godly way results in repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regrets. But the sorrow of the world produces death.
11 See what great earnestness godly sorrow has produced in you! How ready you are to clear yourselves, how indignant, how alarmed, how full of longing and enthusiasm, how eager to seek justice! In every way you have demonstrated that you are innocent in this matter. 12 So, even though I wrote to you, it wasn’t because of the man who did the wrong or because of the man who was hurt. Instead, I wrote to you so that your devotion to us might be made perfectly clear to you before God.
13 This is what comforted us. In addition to our own comfort, we were even more delighted at the joy of Titus, because his spirit had been set at rest by all of you. 14 For if I have been doing some boasting about you to him, I have never been ashamed of it. Moreover, since everything we told you was true, our boasting to Titus has also proved to be true. 15 His affection for you is even greater as he remembers how obedient all of you were and how you welcomed him with fear and trembling. 16 I rejoice that I can have complete confidence in you.
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