Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
David wrote this psalm when he was in the Judah wilderness.
A morning song[a]
63 God, you are my God.
I want to be near to you.
I need you to give me life,
like a thirsty person in a dry desert.
As a person needs water to live,
that is how I need you.[b]
2 When I have gone into your temple,
I have seen what you are like.
I have seen your great power and your glory.
3 Your faithful love for me is better than life itself.
So I will speak out to praise you.
4 Yes, I will thank you for as long as I live.
I will lift up my hands and I will pray to you.
5 You make me very happy,
better than a feast of good food.
I will sing happy songs to praise you.
6 When I lie on my bed,
I think about you all through the night.
7 You are the one who keeps me safe,
like a bird protects its babies under its wings.
So I sing happy songs.
8 I keep very near to you
and your strong right hand keeps me safe.
9 My enemies are trying to kill me,
but I know that they themselves will die.
They will go down into the deep hole of death.
10 Soldiers will kill them with swords.
Wild dogs will eat their dead bodies.
11 But the king will sing songs to praise God.[c]
Everybody who promises to serve God
will speak aloud to praise him.
But everyone who tells lies
will not be able to say anything!
9 Tell this news to the people in all the countries:
Get ready for war!
Shout to the soldiers.
Make all the men who fight get ready to attack.
10 Make your ploughs into swords.
Make the tools that you use on the farm into spears.
The weak man must say, ‘I am strong!’
11 Come quickly, you people who live round Israel.
And get together in the valley.
Lord, send down your army to attack them.
12 ‘Wake up the people in all the countries!
Bring them into the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
I will sit there to judge the people from every place.
13 Now is the time to cut down the fruits.
They are ready for you to bring them in.
Walk all over the grapes.
The winepress is full of them.
They come over the top.
The people in all countries have done so many bad things.’
14 Many nations are in the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
It is there that the day of the Lord will soon come.
15 The sun and moon will become dark.
The stars will not shine.
16 The Lord will shout from Zion.
He will make a great noise from Jerusalem.
The earth and the sky will move about.
But the Lord will keep his people safe.
God will bless his people
17 ‘Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.
You will know that I live in Zion, my holy hill.
Jerusalem will be holy.
Strangers will never take it again.
18 In that day new wine will run from the mountains.
And milk will run from the hills.
All the valleys of Judah will have rivers of water.
Water will come from the house of the Lord
and it will water the Valley of Acacias.
19 But Egypt will be empty,
and Edom will become a desert.
They attacked the people in Judah,
and they killed them for no good reason.
20 My people will always live in Jerusalem and Judah.
21 I will forgive all the wrong things that they have done.’
The Lord has made his home in Zion!
29 Then after all these bad things have happened,
“The sun will become dark.
The moon will not shine any more.
Stars will fall out of the sky.
And the powerful things in the sky will shake.”[a]
30 Then people will see a powerful thing in the sky. This will show them that the Son of Man is coming. All the families of people in the world will cry because they are very sad. Then they will see the Son of Man. He will be riding on the clouds in the sky. He will have great power and bright glory. 31 People will hear the sound of a loud trumpet. The Son of Man will send out his angels. They will go in every direction. They will bring together all the people that God has chosen from every part of the earth and from every part of the sky.’
Jesus tells a story about a fig tree
32 ‘Here is a lesson for you to learn about the fig tree. When the new branches on the tree start to grow, the leaves appear. Then you know that the summer will come soon. 33 In the same way, you will see all these strange things happening. Then you will know that the Son of Man will come very soon. He will be like someone at the door who is ready to come in. 34 I tell you this: The people who are alive now will not all die until all these things happen. 35 One day, the earth and the sky will have an end. But my words will be there for ever.’
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