Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Desire for God’s House

84 How beautiful are the places where You live, O Lord of all! ² My soul wants and even becomes weak from wanting to be in the house of the Lord. My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. ³ Even the bird has found a home. The swallow has found a nest for herself where she may lay her young at Your altars, O Lord of all, my King and my God. ⁴ How happy are those who live in Your house! They are always giving thanks to You.

⁵ How happy is the man whose strength is in You and in whose heart are the roads to Zion! ⁶ As they pass through the dry valley of Baca, they make it a place of good water. The early rain fills the pools with good also. ⁷ They go from strength to strength. Every one of them stands before God in Zion.

9 If only my head were a well of water, and my eyes a well of tears, that I might cry day and night for my people who have been killed! ² If only I had a place in the desert for travelers to stay, that I might leave my people, and go away from them! For none of them are faithful. They are a gathering of men who cannot be trusted. ³ “They use their tongue like their bow. Lies, and not truth, rule the land. For they go from sin to sin, and they do not know Me,” says the Lord. ⁴ “Let every one watch his neighbor. Do not trust any brother. Because every brother sets traps, and every neighbor goes about hurting people with his talk. ⁵ Every one fools his neighbor, and does not tell the truth. They have taught their tongue to tell lies. They become tired doing so many sins. ⁶ You live in the center of false ways. In their false ways they are not willing to know Me,” says the Lord.

⁷ So the Lord of All says, “See, I will make them pure and test them. For what else can I do with My people? ⁸ Their tongue is an arrow that kills. It lies. A man speaks peace to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he plans to trap him. ⁹ Should I not punish them for these things?” says the Lord. “Should I not make a nation such as this pay for its sins?

¹⁰ “I will cry with a loud voice for the mountains. I will cry out in sorrow for the fields, because they are laid waste. No one passes through them. The sound of the cattle is not heard. The birds of the sky and the wild animals have run away. They are gone. ¹¹ I will break down Jerusalem into pieces, a place where wild dogs live. And I will lay waste the cities of Judah. No people will live there.”

¹² Who is the man wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of the Lord spoken, that he may make it known? Why is the land destroyed and laid waste like a desert, so that no one passes through? ¹³ And the Lord said, “They have turned away from My Law that I have given them. They have not obeyed My voice and would not be led by it. ¹⁴ But they have followed the strongwill of their own hearts, and have gone after the false gods of Baal, as their fathers taught them.” ¹⁵ So the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, “See, I will feed these people with wormwood and put poison in their drinking water. ¹⁶ I will spread them out among the nations whom they and their fathers have not known. And I will go after them with the sword until I have put an end to them.”

Things That Will Happen in the Last Days

3 You must understand that in the last days there will come times of much trouble. ² People will love themselves and money. They will have pride and tell of all the things they have done. They will speak against God. Children and young people will not obey their parents. People will not be thankful and they will not be holy. ³ They will not love each other. No one can get along with them. They will tell lies about others. They will not be able to keep from doing things they know they should not do. They will be wild and want to beat and hurt those who are good. ⁴ They will not stay true to their friends. They will act without thinking. They will think too much of themselves. They will love fun instead of loving God. ⁵ They will do things to make it look as if they are Christians. But they will not receive the power that is for a Christian. Keep away from such people.

⁶ These are the kind of people who go from house to house. They talk to foolish women who are loaded down with sins and all kinds of sinful desires. ⁷ Such women are always listening to new teaching. But they are never able to understand the truth. ⁸ Jannes and Jambres fought against Moses. So do these teachers fight against the truth today. Their minds think only of sinful things. They have turned against the Christian teaching. ⁹ They will not get very far. Their foolish teaching will be seen by everyone. That was the way it was with the two who worked against Moses.