Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
80 O Shepherd of Israel who leads Israel like a flock; O God enthroned above the Guardian Angels, bend down your ear and listen as I plead. Display your power and radiant glory. 2 Let Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh see you rouse yourself and use your mighty power to rescue us.
3 Turn us again to yourself, O God. Look down on us in joy and love;[a] only then shall we be saved.
4 O Jehovah, God of heaven’s armies, how long will you be angry and reject our prayers? 5 You have fed us with sorrow and tears 6 and have made us the scorn of the neighboring nations. They laugh among themselves.
7 Turn us again to yourself, O God of Hosts. Look down on us in joy and love;[b] only then shall we be saved.
17 Strengthen the man you love,[a] the son of your choice, 18 and we will never forsake you again. Revive us to trust in you.
19 Turn us again to yourself, O God of the armies of heaven. Look down on us, your face aglow with joy and love—only then shall we be saved.
7 When the Lord finally sent peace upon the land, and Israel was no longer at war with the surrounding nations, 2 David said to Nathan the prophet, “Look! Here I am living in this beautiful cedar palace while the Ark of God is out in a tent!”
3 “Go ahead with what you have in mind,” Nathan replied, “for the Lord is with you.”
4 But that night the Lord said to Nathan, 5 “Tell my servant David not to do it![a] 6 For I have never lived in a temple. My home has been a tent ever since the time I brought Israel out of Egypt. 7 And I have never once complained to Israel’s leaders, the shepherds of my people. Have I ever asked them, ‘Why haven’t you built me a beautiful cedar temple?’
8 “Now go and give this message to David from the Lord of heaven: ‘I chose you to be the leader of my people Israel when you were a mere shepherd, tending your sheep in the pastureland. 9 I have been with you wherever you have gone and have destroyed your enemies. And I will make your name greater yet, so that you will be one of the most famous men in the world! 10-11 I have selected a homeland for my people from which they will never have to move. It will be their own land where the heathen nations won’t bother them as they did when the judges ruled my people. There will be no more wars against you; and your descendants shall rule this land for generations to come! 12 For when you die, I will put one of your sons upon your throne, and I will make his kingdom strong. 13 He is the one who shall build me a temple. And I will continue his kingdom into eternity. 14 I will be his father and he shall be my son. If he sins, I will use other nations to punish him, 15 but my love and kindness shall not leave him as I took it from Saul, your predecessor. 16 Your family shall rule my kingdom forever.’”
17 So Nathan went back to David and told him everything the Lord had said.
23 Until Christ came we were guarded by the law, kept in protective custody, so to speak, until we could believe in the coming Savior.
24 Let me put it another way. The Jewish laws were our teacher and guide until Christ came to give us right standing with God through our faith. 25 But now that Christ has come, we don’t need those laws any longer to guard us and lead us to him. 26 For now we are all children of God through faith in Jesus Christ, 27 and we who have been baptized into union with Christ are enveloped by him. 28 We are no longer Jews or Greeks or slaves or free men or even merely men or women, but we are all the same—we are Christians; we are one in Christ Jesus. 29 And now that we are Christ’s we are the true descendants of Abraham, and all of God’s promises to him belong to us.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.