Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The thirsting soul satisfied in God.
A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.
63 O God, thou art my God; earnestly will I seek thee:
My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee,
In a dry and weary land, where no water is.
2 So have I looked upon thee in the sanctuary,
To see thy power and thy glory.
3 Because thy lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips shall praise thee.
4 So will I bless thee while I live:
I will lift up my hands in thy name.
5 My soul shall be satisfied as with [a]marrow and fatness;
And my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips;
6 When I remember thee upon my bed,
[b]And meditate on thee in the night-watches.
7 For thou hast been my help,
And in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
8 My soul followeth hard after thee:
Thy right hand upholdeth me.
9 But those that seek my soul, [c]to destroy it,
Shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
10 They shall be [d]given over to the power of the sword:
They shall be a portion for [e]foxes.
11 But the king shall rejoice in God:
Every one that sweareth by him shall glory;
For the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.
1 The word of Jehovah that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
2 Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or in the days of your fathers? 3 Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. 4 That which [a]the palmer-worm hath left hath [b]the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath [c]the canker-worm eaten; and that which the canker-worm hath left hath [d]the caterpillar eaten.
5 Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and wail, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it is cut off from your mouth. 6 For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number; his teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the jaw-teeth of a lioness. 7 He hath laid my vine waste, and [e]barked my fig-tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it [f]away; the branches thereof are made white.
8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. 9 The meal-offering and the drink-offering are cut off from the house of Jehovah; the priests, Jehovah’s ministers, mourn. 10 The field is laid waste, the land mourneth; for the grain is destroyed, the new wine is [g]dried up, the oil languisheth. 11 [h]Be confounded, O ye husbandmen, wail, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; for the harvest of the field is perished. 12 The vine is [i]withered, and the fig-tree languisheth; the pomegranate-tree, the palm-tree also, and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field are withered: for joy is [j]withered away from the sons of men.
13 Gird yourselves with sackcloth, and lament, ye priests; wail, ye ministers of the altar; come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meal-offering and the drink-offering are withholden from the house of your God. 14 Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the [k]old men and all the inhabitants of the land unto the house of Jehovah your God, and cry unto Jehovah.
6 But when Timothy came even now unto us from you, and brought us glad tidings of your faith and love, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, longing to see us, even as we also to see you; 7 for this cause, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our distress and affliction through your faith: 8 for now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord. 9 For what thanksgiving can we render again unto God for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God; 10 night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face, and may perfect that which is lacking in your faith?
11 Now may [a]our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way unto you: 12 and the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we also do toward you; 13 to the end he may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before [b]our God and Father, at the [c]coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. [d]
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