Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
To the Director: A song. Lyrics[a] by David.
A Song of Praise to God
65 In Zion, God, praise silently awaits you,
and vows will be paid to you.
2 Since you hear prayer,
everybody will come to you.
3 My acts of iniquity—they overwhelm me!
Our transgressions—you blot them out!
4 How blessed is the one you choose,
the one you cause to live in your courts.
We will be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
yes, even with the holiness of your Temple.
5 With awesome deeds of justice[b]
you will answer us, God our Deliverer;
you are[c] the confidence for everyone at the ends of the earth,
even for those far away overseas.
6 The One who established the mountains by his strength
is clothed with omnipotence.
7 He calmed the roar of seas,
the roaring of the waves,
and the turmoil of the peoples.
8 Those living at the furthest ends of the earth[d] are seized by fear because of your miraculous deeds.
You make the going forth of the morning and the evening shout for joy.
9 You take care of the earth,
you water it,
and you enrich it greatly with the river of God that overflows with water.
You provide grain for them,
for you have ordained it this way.
10 You fill the furrows of the field with water
so that their ridges overflow.
You soften them with rain showers;
their sprouts you have blessed.
11 You crown the year with your goodness;
your footsteps drop prosperity behind them.
12 The wilderness pastures drip with dew,[a]
and the hills wrap themselves with joy.
13 The meadows are clothed with flocks of sheep,
and the valleys are covered with grain.
They shout for joy;
yes, they burst out in song!
6 “You have heard—now look at them all!
How[a] can you not admit them?
From now on, I’ll make you hear new things,
hidden things that you have not known.
7 They are created now, and not long ago;
you didn’t hear them before today,
so you cannot say, ‘Yes, I knew them.’
8 And[b] neither had you heard, nor did you understand,
nor did you open[c] your ear long ago.[d]
Indeed, I knew that[e] you would act very deceitfully,
and they would call[f] you a rebel from birth.
9 I defer my anger for my name’s sake,
and as my first act[g] I’m restraining it for you,
so as not to cut you off.
10 Look, I have refined you, but not like silver;
I have purified[h] you in the furnace of affliction.
11 For my own sake—Yes, for my own sake!—I’m doing it;
indeed, how can I be profaned?[i]
Furthermore, I won’t give my glory to another.”
Paul’s Desire to Take the Gospel to the Whole World
14 I myself am convinced,[a] my brothers, that you yourselves are filled with goodness and full of all the knowledge you need to be able to instruct each other. 15 However, on some points I have written to you rather boldly, both as a reminder to you and because of the grace given me by God 16 to be a minister of the Messiah[b] Jesus to the gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering brought by gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
17 Therefore, in the Messiah[c] Jesus I have the right to boast about my work for God. 18 For I am bold enough to tell you only about what the Messiah[d] has accomplished through me in bringing gentiles to obedience. By my words and actions, 19 by the power of signs and wonders, and by the power of God’s Spirit,[e] I have fully proclaimed the gospel of the Messiah[f] from Jerusalem as far as Illyricum. 20 My one ambition is to proclaim the gospel where the name of the Messiah[g] is not known, so I don’t[h] build on someone else’s foundation. 21 Rather, as it is written,
“Those who were never told about him will see,
and those who have never heard will understand.”[i]
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