Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Those Who Trust in God Are Happy

34 I will honor the Lord at all times. His praise will always be in my mouth. ² My soul will be proud to tell about the Lord. Let those who suffer hear it and be filled with joy. ³ Give great honor to the Lord with me. Let us praise His name together.

⁴ I looked for the Lord, and He answered me. And He took away all my fears. ⁵ They looked to Him and their faces shined with joy. Their faces will never be ashamed. ⁶ This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him. And He saved him out of all his troubles. ⁷ The angel of the Lord stays close around those who fear Him, and He takes them out of trouble.

⁸ O taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the man who trusts in Him! ⁹ O fear the Lord, all you who belong to Him. For those who fear Him never want for anything. ¹⁰ The young lions suffer want and hunger. But they who look for the Lord will not be without any good thing. ¹¹ Come, you children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. ¹² Who is the man who has a desire for life, and wants to live long so that he may see good things? ¹³ Keep your tongue from sin and your lips from speaking lies. ¹⁴ Turn away from what is sinful. Do what is good. Look for peace and follow it.

¹⁵ The eyes of the Lord are on those who do what is right and good. His ears are open to their cry. ¹⁶ The face of the Lord is against those who sin. He will keep the people of the earth from remembering them. ¹⁷ Those who are right with the Lord cry, and He hears them. And He takes them from all their troubles. ¹⁸ The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart. And He saves those who are broken in spirit.

¹⁹ A man who does what is right and good may have many troubles. But the Lord takes him out of them all. ²⁰ He keeps all his bones safe. Not one of them is broken. ²¹ Sin will kill the sinful. And those who hate God’s people will be held guilty and punished forever. ²² The Lord saves the soul of those who work for Him. None of those who trust in Him will be held guilty.

⁵ The Lord God of All is the One Who touches the land and it melts. All those who live in it are filled with sorrow. All of it rises and falls like the Nile River of Egypt. ⁶ The Lord builds His upper rooms in the heavens and sets His sky over the earth. He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the earth. The Lord is His name.

⁷ “Are you not like the Ethiopians to Me, you people of Israel?” says the Lord. “Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? ⁸ See, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful nation, and I will destroy it from the earth. But I will not destroy all the people of Jacob,” says the Lord.

⁹ “I will say what must be done. I will shake the people of Jacob among all the nations, as grain is shaken on a fine net. But not the smallest seed will fall to the ground. ¹⁰ All the sinners among My people who say, ‘The trouble will not catch up to us or come to us,’ will die by the sword.

Israel to Have New Life

¹¹ “In that day I will build again the tent of David that fell down. Yes, I will build it again from the stones that fell down. I will set it up again as it used to be. ¹² And so the people of Israel will own what is left of the land of Edom and all the nations that are called by My name,” says the Lord who does this.

¹³ “The days are coming,” says the Lord, “when the man who plows will catch up with the man who gathers. The man who crushes the grapes will catch up with the man who plants the seed. The mountains will drip sweet wine, and all the hills will flow with it. ¹⁴ And I will return My people Israel to their riches. They will build again the cities that have been destroyed, and live in them. They will plant grape-fields and drink their wine. And they will make gardens and eat their fruit. ¹⁵ I will plant My people on their land. And they will never again be pulled up from the land I gave them,” says the Lord your God.

¹³ No, Christian brothers, I do not have that life yet. But I do one thing. I forget everything that is behind me and look forward to that which is ahead of me. ¹⁴ My eyes are on the crown. I want to win the race and get the crown of God’s call from heaven through Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ All of us who are full-grown Christians should think this way. If you do not think this way, God will show it to you. ¹⁶ So let us keep on obeying the same truth we have already been following.

¹⁷ Christian brothers, live your lives as I have lived mine. Watch those who live as I have taught you to live. ¹⁸ There are many whose lives show they hate the cross of Christ. I have told you this before. Now I tell you again with tears in my eyes. ¹⁹ Their god is their stomach. They take pride in things they should be ashamed of. All they think about are the things of this world. In the end they will be destroyed. ²⁰ But we are citizens of heaven. Christ, the One Who saves from the punishment of sin, will be coming down from heaven again. We are waiting for Him to return. ²¹ He will change these bodies of ours of the earth and make them new. He will make them like His body of shining-greatness. He has the power to do this because He can make all things obey Him.

4 So, my dear Christian brothers, you are my joy and crown. I want to see you. Keep on staying true to the Lord, my dear friends.