Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
For the choir director; al tashcheth; a psalm by Asaph; a song.
75 We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks.
You are present, and your miracles confirm that.
2 When I choose the right time,
I will judge fairly.
3 When the earth and everyone who lives on it begin to melt,
I will make its foundations as solid as rock. Selah
4 I said to those who brag, “Don’t brag,”
and to wicked people,
“Don’t raise your weapons.
5 Don’t raise your weapons so proudly
or speak so defiantly.”
6 The ⌞authority⌟ to reward someone does not ⌞come⌟
from the east,
from the west,
or ⌞even⌟ from the wilderness.
7 God alone is the judge.
He punishes one person and rewards another.
8 A cup is in the Lord’s hand.
(Its foaming wine is thoroughly mixed with spices.)
He will empty it,
⌞and⌟ all the wicked people on earth
will have to drink every last drop.
9 But I will speak ⌞about your miracles⌟ forever.
I will make music to praise the God of Jacob.
10 I will destroy all the weapons of wicked people,
but the weapons of righteous people will be raised proudly.
Nahum’s Vision
1 This is a revelation from the Lord about Nineveh. This book contains the vision of Nahum from Elkosh.
Who Can Withstand the Lord’s Anger?
2 God does not tolerate rivals. The Lord takes revenge.
The Lord takes revenge and is full of anger.
The Lord takes revenge against his enemies
and holds a grudge against his foes.
3 The Lord is patient and has great strength.
The Lord will never let the guilty go unpunished.
Raging winds and storms mark his path,
and clouds are the dust from his feet.
4 He yells at the sea and makes it dry.
He dries up all the rivers.
Bashan and Carmel wither.
The flowers of Lebanon wither.
5 The mountains quake because of him.
The hills melt.
The earth draws back in his presence.
The world and all who live in it draw back as well.
6 Who can stand in the presence of his rage?
Who can oppose his burning anger?
He pours out his rage like fire
and smashes the rocky cliffs.
Why Does Nineveh Oppose the Lord?
7 The Lord is good.
⌞He is⌟ a fortress in the day of trouble.
He knows those who seek shelter in him.
8 He will put an end to Nineveh
with a devastating flood.
He will pursue his enemies with darkness.
9 What do you think about the Lord?
He is the one who will bring Nineveh to an end.
This trouble will never happen again.
10 ⌞The people of Nineveh will be⌟ like tangled thorns
and like people drunk on their own drink.
They will be completely burned up like very dry straw.
11 From you, Nineveh, a person who plans evil against the Lord sets out.
His advice is wicked.
Nineveh Will Fall
12 This is what the Lord says:
Though the people of Nineveh are physically fit and many in number,
they will be cut down and die.
Though I have humbled you, Judah,
I will not humble you again.
13 But now I will break Nineveh’s yoke [a] off of you
and tear its chains from you.
12 In this situation God’s holy people, who obey his commands and keep their faith in Jesus, need endurance.
13 I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: From now on those who die believing in the Lord are blessed.”
“Yes,” says the Spirit. “Let them rest from their hard work. What they have done goes with them.”
14 Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and on the cloud sat someone who was like the Son of Man. He had a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 Another angel came out of the temple. He cried out in a loud voice to the one who sat on the cloud, “Swing your sickle, and gather the harvest. The time has come to gather it, because the harvest on the earth is overripe.”
16 The one who sat on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the harvesting of the earth was completed.
17 Another angel came out of the temple in heaven. He, too, had a sharp sickle. 18 Yet another angel came from the altar with authority over fire. This angel called out in a loud voice to the angel with the sharp sickle, “Swing your sickle, and gather the bunches of grapes from the vine of the earth, because those grapes are ripe.” 19 The angel swung his sickle on the earth and gathered the grapes from the vine of the earth. He threw them into the winepress of God’s anger. 20 The grapes were trampled in the winepress outside the city. Blood flowed out of the winepress as high as a horse’s bridle for 1,600 stadia.[a]
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