Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Praise God Who Judges and Saves
David’s song from the time he acted crazy so Abimelech would send him away, and David did leave.
34 I will praise the Lord at all times;
his praise is always on my lips.
2 My whole being praises the Lord.
The poor will hear and be glad.
3 Glorify the Lord with me,
and let us praise his name together.
4 I asked the Lord for help, and he answered me.
He saved me from all that I feared.
5 Those who go to him for help are happy,
and they are never disgraced.
6 This poor man called, and the Lord heard him
and saved him from all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord camps around those who fear God,
and he saves them.
8 Examine and see how good the Lord is.
Happy is the person who trusts him.
9 You who belong to the Lord, fear him!
Those who fear him will have everything they need.
10 Even lions may get weak and hungry,
but those who look to the Lord will have every good thing.
11 Children, come and listen to me.
I will teach you to worship the Lord.
12 You must do these things
to enjoy life and have many happy days.
13 You must not say evil things,
and you must not tell lies.
14 Stop doing evil and do good.
Look for peace and work for it.
15 The Lord sees the good people
and listens to their prayers.
16 But the Lord is against those who do evil;
he makes the world forget them.
17 The Lord hears good people when they cry out to him,
and he saves them from all their troubles.
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted,
and he saves those whose spirits have been crushed.
19 People who do what is right may have many problems,
but the Lord will solve them all.
20 He will protect their very bones;
not one of them will be broken.
21 Evil will kill the wicked;
those who hate good people will be judged guilty.
22 But the Lord saves his servants’ lives;
no one who trusts him will be judged guilty.
5 The Lord God All-Powerful touches the land,
and the land shakes.
Then everyone who lives in the land cries for the dead.
The whole land rises like the Nile River
and falls like the river of Egypt.
6 The Lord builds his upper rooms above the skies;
he sets their foundations on the earth.
He calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out on the land.
The Lord is his name.
7 The Lord says,
“Israel, you are no different to me than the people of Cush.
I brought Israel out of the land of Egypt,
and the Philistines from Crete,
and the Arameans from Kir.
8 I, the Lord God, am watching the sinful kingdom Israel.
I will destroy it
from off the earth,
but I will not completely destroy
Jacob’s descendants,” says the Lord.
9 “I am giving the command
to scatter the nation of Israel among all nations.
It will be like someone shaking grain through a strainer,
but not even a tiny stone falls through.
10 All the sinners among my people
will die by the sword—
those who say,
‘Nothing bad will happen to us.’
The Lord Promises to Restore Israel
11 “The kingdom of David is like a fallen tent,
but in that day I will set it up again
and mend its broken places.
I will rebuild its ruins
as it was before.
12 Then Israel will take over what is left of Edom
and the other nations that belong to me,”
says the Lord,
who will make it happen.
13 The Lord says, “The time is coming when there will be all kinds of food.
People will still be harvesting crops
when it’s time to plow again.
People will still be taking the juice from grapes
when it’s time to plant again.
Wine will drip from the mountains
and pour from the hills.
14 I will bring my people Israel back from captivity;
they will build the ruined cities again,
and they will live in them.
They will plant vineyards and drink the wine from them;
they will plant gardens and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant my people on their land,
and they will not be pulled out again
from the land which I have given them,”
says the Lord your God.
13 Brothers and sisters, I know that I have not yet reached that goal, but there is one thing I always do. Forgetting the past and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I keep trying to reach the goal and get the prize for which God called me through Christ to the life above.
15 All of us who are spiritually mature should think this way, too. And if there are things you do not agree with, God will make them clear to you. 16 But we should continue following the truth we already have.
17 Brothers and sisters, all of you should try to follow my example and to copy those who live the way we showed you. 18 Many people live like enemies of the cross of Christ. I have often told you about them, and it makes me cry to tell you about them now. 19 In the end, they will be destroyed. They do whatever their bodies want, they are proud of their shameful acts, and they think only about earthly things. 20 But our homeland is in heaven, and we are waiting for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from heaven. 21 By his power to rule all things, he will change our humble bodies and make them like his own glorious body.
What the Christians Are to Do
4 My dear brothers and sisters, I love you and want to see you. You bring me joy and make me proud of you, so stand strong in the Lord as I have told you.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.