Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
God Will Punish the Proud
For the director of music. A maskil of David. When Doeg the Edomite came to Saul and said to him, “David is in Ahimelech’s house.”
52 Mighty warrior, why do you brag about the evil you do?
God’s love will continue forever.
2 You think up evil plans.
Your tongue is like a sharp razor,
making up lies.
3 You love wrong more than right
and lies more than truth. Selah
4 You love words that bite
and tongues that lie.
5 But God will ruin you forever.
He will grab you and throw you out of your tent.
He will tear you away from the land of the living. Selah
6 Those who do right will see this and fear God.
They will laugh at you and say,
7 “Look what happened to the man
who did not depend on God.
Instead, he depended on his money.
He grew strong by his evil plans.”
8 But I am like an olive tree
growing in God’s Temple.
I trust God’s love
forever and ever.
9 God, I will thank you forever for what you have done.
With those who worship you, I will trust you because you are good.
11 “Tell these things to Judah’s royal family: ‘Hear the word of the Lord! 12 Family of David, the Lord says these things:
You must judge people fairly every day.
Protect from criminals
the person who has been robbed.
If you don’t do that, I will become very angry.
My anger will be like a fire that no one can put out.
This will happen because you have done evil things.
13 “‘Jerusalem, I am against you.
You sit on top of the mountain.
You sit over this valley, says the Lord.
You say, “No one can attack us.
No one can come into our strong city.”
14 But I will give you the punishment you deserve, says the Lord.
I will start a fire in your forests.
It will burn up everything around you!’”
22 I did not see a temple in the city. The Lord God All-Powerful and the Lamb are the city’s temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it. The glory of God is its light, and the Lamb is the city’s lamp. 24 By its light the people of the world will walk. The kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 The city’s gates will never be shut on any day, because there is no night there. 26 The greatness and the honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing unclean will ever enter the city. No one who does shameful things or tells lies will ever go into it. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life will enter the city.
22 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life. The river was shining like crystal. It flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the street of the city. The tree of life was on each side of the river. It produces fruit 12 times a year, once each month. The leaves of the tree are for the healing of all people. 3 Nothing that God judges guilty will be in that city. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be there. And God’s servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads. 5 There will never be night again. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun. The Lord God will give them light. And they will rule like kings forever and ever.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.