Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 96
Sing to the Lord a New Song
Call to Worship
1 Sing to the Lord a new song.
Sing to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing to the Lord. Praise his name.
Proclaim the good news of his salvation from day to day.
3 Tell about his glory among the nations,
about his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
Praise Him Alone
4 For great is the Lord and worthy of great praise.
He is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are “nothings,”[a]
but the Lord made the heavens.
6 Splendor and majesty are before him.
Power and beauty are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the Lord, families of peoples,
Ascribe to the Lord glory and power.
8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name.
Bring a gift and come into his courtyards.
9 Bow down to the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.[b]
Look away from his face,[c] all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
The world is firmly established.
It will not be moved.
He will judge the peoples with fairness.
Let Nature Praise Him
11 Let the heavens rejoice.
Let the earth celebrate.
Let the sea roar,
and all that fills it.
12 Let the fields be overjoyed,
and everything that is in them.
Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy
13 before the Lord, for he comes,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples in his faithfulness.
The Spirit of the Times: Bad Priests, Bad People
Micah’s Idol
17 There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. 2 He said to his mother, “You know that eleven hundred shekels of silver[a] which were taken from you, about which you spoke a curse that I heard—Look! I have the silver. I took it.”
His mother said, “May my son be blessed by the Lord.”
3 Micah returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother.
Then his mother said, “The silver that I received from my son I solemnly dedicate to the Lord to make a cast and engraved idol[b] for my son’s benefit.[c] So now I will return it to you.”[d]
4 He returned the silver to his mother, and his mother gave two hundred shekels of silver to the silversmith, who made them into a cast and engraved idol, which was placed in the house of Micah.
5 This man Micah had a “house of God,” where he placed a special priestly vest and a household god and where he ordained[e] one of his sons as his own priest.
6 In those days there was no king in Israel, and every man did whatever was right in his own eyes.
A Warning About Diotrephes
9 I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, does not welcome us. 10 For this reason, if I do come, I will call attention to what he is doing. He is disparaging us with wicked words, and he is not content with that. He also refuses to welcome the brothers. He even hinders and puts out of the church those who wish to welcome them.
11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does what is good is from God. The one who does what is evil has not seen God.
12 Demetrius has been endorsed by everyone, even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.