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.

Jerusalem Cries for Help

¹⁷ The Lord of All says, “Take thought and call for the women who are filled with sorrow, that they may come. Call for the women who cry for the dead, that they may come. ¹⁸ Let them hurry and cry in a loud voice for us, that tears may come from our eyes, and that our eyes will flow with water. ¹⁹ For a sound of loud crying is heard from Zion: ‘How we are destroyed! We are filled with shame, for we have left the land because they have broken down our houses.’” ²⁰ Now hear the Word of the Lord, O you women. Let your ear receive the Word of His mouth. Teach your daughters a song of sorrow. Every one teach her neighbor a song for the dead. ²¹ For death has come in through our windows. It has come into our beautiful houses of kings. It has cut off the children from the streets, and the young men from the open spaces of the city. ²² Say, “This is what the Lord says: ‘The dead bodies of men will fall like animal waste on the open field, and like grain after the gatherer. But no one will gather them.’”

²³ The Lord says, “Let not a wise man speak with pride about his wisdom. Let not the strong man speak with pride about his strength. And let not a rich man speak with pride about his riches. ²⁴ But let him who speaks with pride speak about this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who shows loving-kindness and does what is fair and right and good on earth. For I find joy in these things,” says the Lord.

²⁵ “See, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when I will punish all who have gone through the religious act of the Jews, but have not had the sin cut from their heart. ²⁶ I will punish Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and all those who live in the desert. For none of these nations have had their flesh cut. And none of the people of Israel have had the sin cut from their heart.”

Teach the Truth

¹⁰ But you know what I teach and how I live. You know what I want to do. You know about my faith and my love. You know how long I am willing to wait for something. You know how I keep on working for God even when it is hard for me. ¹¹ You know about all the troubles and hard times I have had. You have seen how I suffered in the cities of Antioch and Iconium and Lystra. Yet the Lord brought me out of all those troubles. ¹² Yes! All who want to live a God-like life who belong to Christ Jesus will suffer from others. ¹³ Sinful men and false teachers will go from bad to worse. They will lead others the wrong way and will be led the wrong way themselves.

¹⁴ But as for you, hold on to what you have learned and know to be true. Remember where you learned them. ¹⁵ You have known the Holy Writings since you were a child. They are able to give you wisdom that leads to being saved from the punishment of sin by putting your trust in Christ Jesus.