Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
To the director: A praise song of David.
65 God in Zion, we praise you
and give you what we promised.
2 Anyone can come to you,
and you will listen to their prayers.
3 When our sins become too heavy for us,
you wipe them away.
4 Oh, how wonderful it is to be the people you chose
to come and stay in your Temple.
And we are so happy to have the wonderful things
that are in your Temple, your holy palace.
5 God, you answer our prayers and do what is right.
You do amazing things to save us.
People all over the world know they can trust in you,
even those who live across the sea.
6 You made the mountains.
We see your power all around us.
7 You can calm the roughest seas
or the nations raging around us.
8 People all around the world are amazed at the wonderful things you do.
You make all people, east and west, sing with joy.
9 You take care of the land.
You water it and make it fertile.
Your streams are always filled with water.
That’s how you make the crops grow.
10 You pour rain on the plowed fields;
you soak the fields with water.
You make the ground soft with rain,
and you make the young plants grow.
11 You start the new year with a good harvest.
You end the year with many crops.[a]
12 The desert and hills are covered with grass.
13 The pastures are covered with sheep.
The valleys are filled with grain.
Everything is singing and shouting for joy.
God Rules His World
48 “Family of Jacob, listen to me!
You people call yourself ‘Israel,’
but you are from Judah’s family.
When you take an oath, I, the Lord, the God of Israel,
am the one whose name you use,
but you are not honest and sincere.
2 “Yes, you call yourselves citizens of the holy city,[a]
those who depend on the God of Israel.
The Lord All-Powerful is his name.
3 “Long ago I told you what would happen.
I told you about these things.
And suddenly I made them happen.
4 I did that because I knew you were stubborn.
You were like iron that will not bend,
with heads as hard as bronze.
5 So long ago I told you what would happen.
I told you about those things long before they happened.
I did this so that you could not say,
‘The gods we made did this.
Our idols, our statues, made this happen.’”
12 People who have the law and those who have never heard of the law are all the same when they sin. People who don’t have the law and are sinners will be lost. And, in the same way, those who have the law and are sinners will be judged by the law. 13 Hearing the law does not make people right with God. They will be right before him only if they always do what the law says.
14 Those who are not Jews don’t have the law. But when they naturally do what the law commands without even knowing the law, then they are their own law. This is true even though they don’t have the written law. 15 They show that in their hearts they know what is right and wrong, the same as the law commands, and their consciences agree. Sometimes their thoughts tell them that they have done wrong, and this makes them guilty. And sometimes their thoughts tell them that they have done right, and this makes them not guilty.
16 All this will happen on the day when God will judge people’s secret thoughts through Jesus Christ. This is part of the Good News that I tell everyone.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International