Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 66

To the Chief Musician. A song. A Psalm.

¹ Make a joyful noise unto God, all the earth;

² Sing forth the honor and glory of His name; make His praise glorious!

³ Say to God, How awesome and fearfully glorious are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power shall Your enemies submit themselves to You [with feigned and reluctant obedience].

⁴ All the earth shall bow down to You and sing [praises] to You; they shall praise Your name in song. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁵ Come and see the works of God; see how [to save His people He smites their foes; He is] terrible in His doings toward the children of men.

⁶ He turned the sea into dry land, they crossed through the river on foot; there did we rejoice in Him.

⁷ He rules by His might forever, His eyes observe and keep watch over the nations; let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁸ Bless our God, O peoples, give Him grateful thanks and make the voice of His praise be heard,

⁹ Who put and kept us among the living, and has not allowed our feet to slip.

⁴⁷ Therefore behold, the days will come when I will execute judgment and punishment upon the idols of Babylon; her whole land will be confounded and put to shame, and all her slain will fall in the midst of her.

⁴⁸ Then heaven and earth and all that is in them shall sing for joy over Babylon, for the [Median] destroyers shall come against her from the north, says the Lord.^(A)

⁴⁹ As Babylon caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all [her] land.

⁵⁰ You who have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still! [Seriously and earnestly] remember the Lord from afar [Babylon], and let [desolate] Jerusalem come into your mind.

⁵¹ We are confounded and ashamed, for we have heard reproach; confusion and shame have covered our faces, for strangers have come into the [most] sacred parts of the sanctuary of the Lord [even those forbidden for entrance by all but the high priest or the appointed priests].

⁵² Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will execute judgment upon [Babylon’s] idols and images, and throughout all her land the wounded will groan.

⁵³ Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify her strong height (her lofty stronghold), yet destroyers will come upon her from Me, says the Lord.

⁵⁴ The sound of a cry [comes] from Babylon, and [the sound of] great destruction and ruin from the land of the Chaldeans!

⁵⁵ For the Lord is destroying Babylon and laying her waste and stilling her great voice [the hum of the city’s life]. And the waves [of her conquerors] roar like great waters, the noise of their voices is raised up [like the tramping of an army].

⁵⁶ For the destroyer is coming upon her, upon Babylon; and her mighty warriors are taken, their bows are broken in pieces; for the Lord is a God of recompense; He will surely requite.

⁵⁷ And I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, her governors and her commanders (deputies) and her mighty warriors; and they will sleep a perpetual sleep and not waken, says the King—the Lord of hosts is His name.

⁵⁸ Thus says the Lord of hosts: The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly overthrown and [the foundations] made bare, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; the peoples shall labor in vain, and the nations [only] to satisfy the fire, and they shall be weary.^(B)

8 We want to tell you further, brethren, about the grace (the favor and spiritual blessing) of God which has been evident in the churches of Macedonia [arousing in them the desire to give alms];

² For in the midst of an ordeal of severe tribulation, their abundance of joy and their depth of poverty [together] have overflowed in wealth of lavish generosity on their part.

³ For, as I can bear witness, [they gave] according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability; and [they did it] voluntarily,

⁴ Begging us most insistently for the favor and the fellowship of contributing in this ministration for [the relief and support of] the saints [in Jerusalem].

⁵ Nor [was this gift of theirs merely the contribution] that we expected, but first they gave themselves to the Lord and to us [as His agents] by the will of God [^[a]entirely disregarding their personal interests, they gave as much as they possibly could, having put themselves at our disposal to be directed by the will of God]—

⁶ So much so that we have urged Titus that as he began it, he should also complete this beneficent and gracious contribution among you [the church at Corinth].

⁷ Now as you abound and excel and are at the front in everything—in faith, in expressing yourselves, in knowledge, in all zeal, and in your love for us—[see to it that you come to the front now and] abound and excel in this gracious work [of almsgiving] also.