Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A song: Lyrics[a] by the Sons of Korah.
Zion, City of God
48 Great is the Lord!
For he is to be praised greatly,
even in the city of our God,
his holy mountain.
2 Beautifully situated,
the joy of all the earth,
Mount Zion towards the north,[b]
the city of the great King.
3 Within her citadels
God is known as a place of refuge.
4 Behold, when the kings assembled together,
when they traveled together,
5 they looked and were awestruck;
they became afraid and ran away.
6 Trembling seized them there,
pains like those of a woman in labor,
7 as when an east wind destroyed the ships of Tarshish.
8 Just as we have heard,
so have we seen;
in the city of the Lord of the heavenly armies—
even in the city of our God—
God will establish her forever.
9 God, we have meditated on your gracious love
in the midst of your Temple.
10 God, according to your name,
so is your praise to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is filled with righteousness.
11 Mount Zion will be glad;
the towns[c] of Judah will rejoice because of your judgments.
12 March around Zion;
encircle her;
count her towers.
13 Take note of her ramparts;
investigate her citadels;
that you may speak about them to the next generation.
14 For this God is our God forever and ever.
He will guide us until death.
14 Then this message came to me from the Lord: 15 “Son of Man, your brothers, your other relatives, your fellow exiles,[a] and the entire house of Israel are the people to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘They’ve abandoned the Lord. This land was given to us for an inheritance.’”
The Future Hope of Israel
16 “Therefore you are to say, ‘This is what the Lord God says, “Although I’ve removed them far away to live among the nations, and although I’ve scattered them throughout the earth, yet I’ve continued to be their sanctuary, even for the short time that they will be living in the lands to which they’ve gone.”’
17 “Therefore you are to say, ‘This is what the Lord God says, “I’m going to gather you from among the nations, assembling you from the lands among which you have been dispersed. I’ll give you the land of Israel. 18 When they return from there and cast away all of their loathsome things and detestable practices, 19 then I’ll give them a united heart, placing a new spirit within them.[b] I’ll remove their stubborn heart[c] and give them a heart that’s sensitive to me.[d] 20 When they live by my statutes and keep my ordinances by observing them, then they’ll be my people and I will be their God. 21 But to those whose hearts delight in loathsome things and detestable practices, I’ll bring the consequences of their behavior crashing down on their own heads,” declares the Lord God.’”
The Cherubim Leave
22 Then the cherubim arose, with their wheels alongside, and the glory of Israel’s God remained above and over them. 23 The glory of the Lord went up from the middle of the city and stood on the mountain, east of the city. 24 Then in a vision from the Spirit of God, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the exiles in Chaldea. At that point, the vision that I had been observing ended. 25 Later, I spoke to the exiles concerning everything the Lord had spoken that I had witnessed.
12 Now, we have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we can understand the things that were freely given to us by God. 13 We don’t speak about these things with words taught us by human wisdom, but with words[a] taught by the Spirit, as we explain spiritual things to spiritual people.[b] 14 A person who isn’t spiritual doesn’t accept the things of God’s Spirit, for they are nonsense to him. He can’t understand them because they are spiritually evaluated. 15 The spiritual person evaluates everything but is subject to no one else’s evaluation. 16 For
However, we have the mind of the Messiah.[e]
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