Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Korah's sons wrote this song for the music leader. Use special music.
The journey to Zion
84 Lord Almighty,
the temple where you live is beautiful!
2 I want very much to go to the Lord's temple.
I very much want to be in the temple yards.
With all that I am, and with great joy,
I sing to you, the God who lives for ever!
3 In your temple,
even sparrows[a] have their homes.
Swallows builds their nests there,
to take care of their babies.
They can be near to your altars,
Lord Almighty, my king and my God.
4 You have truly blessed those people
who live in your temple.
They can praise you all the time!
Selah.
5 You have blessed those people
who come to you to make them strong.
They love to travel to your temple in Zion.
6 As they go through the dry Baka valley,
springs of water appear there!
The autumn rain covers the valley with pools.
7 The people become stronger as they travel,
until each one meets with God in Zion.[b]
17 The Lord Almighty said this:
‘Think about what is happening!
Call the women who weep at funerals.
Bring those women who know what to do.’
18 ‘Yes, tell them to come quickly
to sing funeral songs for us.[a]
Then tears will pour from our eyes,
and we will not stop weeping.
19 Listen to the people who are crying in Jerusalem!
They say,
“A terrible thing has happened to us!
We are very ashamed!
Our enemies have destroyed our houses.
Now we have to leave our land.” ’
20 ‘Now hear the Lord's message, you women.
Listen to what he says to you.
Teach your daughters how to weep.
Teach each other this funeral song:
21 “Death has come to visit us!
It has come into our strong houses.
Death has taken away our children
who play in the streets.
It has taken away our young men
who meet together in the streets.”
22 The Lord says this:
Dead bodies of people will lie everywhere on the ground.
They will lie there like dung
that a farmer puts on his fields.
They will lie there like crops at harvest time
that nobody has picked up.’
23 The Lord says,
‘Wise people should not be proud of their wisdom.
Powerful people should not be proud of their power.
And rich people should not be proud that they are rich.
24 If they want to be proud about something,
they should be proud that they know me.
They should boast that they understand who I am.
I am the Lord.
I am faithful in my love for my people.
I always do what is right and fair.
It makes me happy when people live in that way too.’
25 The Lord says, ‘Be careful! Very soon I will punish all people who do not respect me. Those people may be circumcised, but if they do not respect me, I will punish them. 26 Those people include the Egyptians, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites and the people of Judah. I will also punish the people who live in the desert and who cut their hair short. Those people are not circumcised to give honour to me. The Israelites are the same. Their bodies are circumcised, but they do not want to obey my covenant with them.’
Timothy must copy Paul's example
10 But you, Timothy, have heard my message and you know it well. You also know the way in which I have lived. You know my purpose in life. You know how I trust God. You know how patient I have been. You know my love for God and for other people. You know that I have been strong during troubles. 11 You also know what happened to me in the cities called Antioch, Iconium and Lystra. People caused me to have a lot of trouble and pain in those places. But I was patient and brave in those bad troubles! And the Lord kept me safe in all those dangerous times.[a]
12 It is not only me. Every Christian who wants to live in a way that pleases God will have trouble from other people. 13 Bad people like that will become even worse. Some of them will teach a false message and people will believe their lies. Those false teachers even believe their own lies!
It is important for us to know the Bible
14 But you must continue to believe the things that you have learned. You know that those things are true. You know the teachers who taught you those things. 15 Even when you were a child, you already knew the message of the Bible. The Bible has taught you how you can be truly wise. You understand that God saves you because you believe in Christ Jesus.
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