Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Longing for the Temple Worship.
For the choir director; [a]on the Gittith. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
84 How lovely are Your (A)dwelling places,
O Lord of hosts!
2 My (B)soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord;
My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the (C)living God.
3 The bird also has found a house,
And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young,
Even Your (D)altars, O Lord of hosts,
(E)My King and my God.
4 How (F)blessed are those who dwell in Your house!
They are (G)ever praising You. [b]Selah.
5 How blessed is the man whose (H)strength is in You,
In [c]whose heart are the (I)highways to Zion!
6 Passing through the valley of [d]Baca they make it a [e]spring;
The (J)early rain also covers it with blessings.
7 They (K)go from strength to strength,
[f]Every one of them (L)appears before God in Zion.
A Lament over Zion
9 [a](A)Oh that my head were waters
And my eyes a fountain of tears,
That I might weep day and night
For the slain of the (B)daughter of my people!
2 [b](C)Oh that I had in the desert
A wayfarers’ lodging place;
That I might leave my people
And go from them!
For all of them are (D)adulterers,
An assembly of (E)treacherous men.
3 “They (F)bend their tongue like their bow;
Lies and not truth prevail in the land;
For they (G)proceed from evil to evil,
And they (H)do not know Me,” declares the Lord.
4 “Let everyone (I)be on guard against his neighbor,
And (J)do not trust any brother;
Because every (K)brother deals [c]craftily,
And every neighbor (L)goes about as a slanderer.
5 “Everyone (M)deceives his neighbor
And does not speak the truth,
They have taught their tongue to speak lies;
They (N)weary themselves committing iniquity.
6 “Your (O)dwelling is in the midst of deceit;
Through deceit they (P)refuse to know Me,” declares the Lord.
7 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts,
“Behold, I will refine them and (Q)assay them;
For (R)what else can I do, because of the daughter of My people?
8 “Their (S)tongue is a deadly arrow;
It speaks deceit;
With his mouth one (T)speaks peace to his neighbor,
But inwardly he (U)sets an ambush for him.
9 “(V)Shall I not punish them for these things?” declares the Lord.
“On a nation such as this
Shall I not avenge Myself?
10 “For the (W)mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing,
And for the pastures of the (X)wilderness a dirge,
Because they are (Y)laid waste so that no one passes through,
And the lowing of the cattle is not heard;
Both the (Z)birds of the sky and the beasts have fled; they are gone.
11 “I will make Jerusalem a (AA)heap of ruins,
A haunt of (AB)jackals;
And I will make the cities of Judah a (AC)desolation, without inhabitant.”
12 Who is the (AD)wise man that may understand this? And who is he to whom (AE)the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? (AF)Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a desert, so that no one passes through? 13 The Lord said, “Because they have (AG)forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice nor walked according to it, 14 but have (AH)walked after the stubbornness of their heart and after the (AI)Baals, as their (AJ)fathers taught them,” 15 therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “behold, (AK)I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them (AL)poisoned water to drink. 16 I will (AM)scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the (AN)sword after them until I have annihilated them.”
“Difficult Times Will Come”
3 But realize this, that (A)in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be (B)lovers of self, (C)lovers of money, (D)boastful, (E)arrogant, (F)revilers, (G)disobedient to parents, (H)ungrateful, (I)unholy, 3 (J)unloving, irreconcilable, (K)malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, [a](L)haters of good, 4 (M)treacherous, (N)reckless, (O)conceited, (P)lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of [b](Q)godliness, although they have (R)denied its power; (S)Avoid such men as these. 6 For among them are those who [c](T)enter into households and captivate [d](U)weak women weighed down with sins, led on by (V)various impulses, 7 always learning and never able to (W)come to the [e]knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as (X)Jannes and Jambres (Y)opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, (Z)men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. 9 But they will not make further progress; for their (AA)folly will be obvious to all, just (AB)as [f]Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.
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