Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Wishing to Be Near God
A psalm of David when he was in the ·desert [wilderness] of Judah [C fleeing from a jealous Saul; 1 Sam. 21–31].
63 God, you are my God.
I ·search for [am intent on] you.
I thirst for you [42:1–2]
·like someone [or my flesh yearns for you] in a dry, ·empty [exhausted; weary] land
where there is no water.
2 I have seen you in ·the Temple [L the Holy Place; or holiness]
and have seen your strength and glory.
3 Because your ·love [loyalty] is better than life,
·I [L My lips] will praise you.
4 I will ·praise [bless] you ·as long as I live [L with my life].
I will lift up my hands in your name [C in prayer].
5 I will be ·content as if I had eaten the best foods [L satisfied as with fat and fatness].
My lips will sing, and my mouth will praise you.
6 I remember you while I’m lying in bed;
I ·think about [meditate on] you through the watches of the night [C the night was divided into four watches of three hours each].
7 You are my help.
·Because of your protection [L In the shadow of your wings; C an image of compassion or perhaps a reference to the cherubim whose wings covered the Ark of the Covenant; Ex. 25:20], I sing.
8 I ·stay close [cling] to you;
·you support me with your right hand [L your right hand sustains me].
9 ·Some people are trying to kill me [L They seek my life for ruin],
but they will go down to the ·grave [L underbelly of the earth].
10 They will be ·killed with swords [L handed over to the sword]
and ·eaten by wild dogs [L be the prey of jackals].
11 But the king will rejoice in his God.
All who ·make promises in his name [L swear by him] will praise him,
but the mouths of liars will be shut.
God Judges the Nations
9 ·Announce [Proclaim] this among the nations:
Prepare for war!
·Wake up [Rouse; Call out] the ·soldiers [warriors; mighty men]!
Let all the men of war come near and attack.
10 ·Make swords from your plows [T Beat your plowshares into swords],
and make spears from your ·hooks for trimming trees [pruning hooks; C the opposite of Is. 2:4].
Let even the weak person say,
“I am ·a soldier [a warrior; or strong].”
11 All of you nations, hurry,
and ·come together [assemble] in that place.
Lord, ·send your soldiers
to gather the nations [L bring down your warriors].
12 “·Wake up, nations [or Let the nations be roused],
and come ·to attack in [up to] the Valley ·Where the Lord Judges [L of Jehoshaphat; v. 2].
There I will sit to judge
all the nations on every side.
13 Swing the ·cutting tool [sickle],
because the harvest is ripe.
Come, ·walk on them as you would walk on grapes to get their juice [L trample the grapes],
because the winepress is full
and the ·barrels [vats] are ·spilling over [overflowing],
because ·these people are so evil [their wickedness/evil is great]!”
14 ·There are huge numbers of people [L Multitudes, multitudes]
in the Valley of Decision [C the place of the Lord’s verdict against the nations; vv. 2, 12],
because the ·Lord’s day of judging [L day of the Lord; 1:15] is near
in the Valley of Decision.
15 The sun and the moon will become dark,
and the stars will ·stop shining [L withhold their brightness; 2:10].
16 The Lord ·will roar like a lion from Jerusalem [L roars from Zion];
his loud voice will thunder from ·that city [L Jerusalem],
and the ·sky [heavens] and the earth will shake.
But the Lord will be a ·safe place [refuge] for his people,
a ·strong place of safety [stronghold] for the ·people [L sons; T children] of Israel.
17 “Then you will know that I, the Lord your God,
live on my holy Mount Zion.
Jerusalem will be a holy place,
and ·strangers [foreigners] will never even go through it again [C as invaders].
A New Life Promised for Judah
18 “On that day ·wine [sweet/new wine] will drip from the mountains,
milk will flow from the hills [C symbols of bounty and prosperity],
and water will run through all the ·ravines [streambeds] of Judah.
A fountain will flow from the ·Temple [L house] of the Lord
and give water to the valley of ·acacia trees [L Shittim; C perhaps a proper name; Num. 25:1].
19 But Egypt will ·become empty [be desolate],
and Edom an ·empty desert [deserted wilderness],
because ·they were cruel [of their violence] to the ·people [L sons; descendants] of Judah.
They ·killed innocent people [L shed innocent blood] in that land.
20 But ·there will always be people living in Judah [Judah will be inhabited forever],
and ·people will live in Jerusalem from now on [L Jerusalem from generation to generation].
21 ·Egypt and Edom killed my people,
so I will definitely punish them [L I will avenge/punish their blood, which I have not yet avenged/punished].”
The Lord ·lives [dwells] in Jerusalem!
29 “Soon after the ·trouble [tribulation; distress] of those days,
‘the sun will grow dark,
and the moon will not give its light.
The stars will fall from ·the sky [heaven].
And the ·powers of the heavens [celestial bodies] will be shaken [Is. 13:10; 34:4; cf. Ezek. 32:7–8; Joel 2:10, 31].’
30 “At that time, the sign of the Son of Man will appear in ·the sky [or heaven]. Then all the ·peoples [tribes] of the world will ·cry [mourn]. They will see the Son of Man coming on ·clouds in the sky [or the clouds of heaven] with great power and glory. 31 He will use a loud trumpet to send his angels, and they will gather his ·chosen people [elect] ·from every part of the world [L from the four winds, from one end of the sky/heavens to another].
32 “Learn a ·lesson [parable; analogy] from the fig tree: When its branches ·become green and soft [become tender; sprout] and new leaves appear, you know summer is near. 33 In the same way, when you see all these things happening, you will know that ·the time [or he] is near, ·ready to come [right at the door]. 34 I tell you the truth, all these things will happen ·while the people of this time are still living [before this generation passes away; C either the generation that sees the destruction of Jerusalem (ad 70), or a future generation of the end times]. 35 ·Earth and sky will be destroyed [T Heaven and earth will pass away], but the words I have said will never ·be destroyed [pass away].
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