Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

92 A song to sing on the Lord’s Day.^[a]

It is good to say thank you to the Lord, to sing praises to the God who is above all gods.

² Every morning tell him, “Thank you for your kindness,” and every evening rejoice in all his faithfulness. ³ Sing his praises, accompanied by music from the harp and lute and lyre. ⁴ You have done so much for me, O Lord. No wonder I am glad! I sing for joy.

⁵ O Lord, what miracles you do! And how deep are your thoughts! ⁶ Unthinking people do not understand them! No fool can comprehend this: ⁷ that although the wicked flourish like weeds, there is only eternal destruction ahead of them. ⁸ But the Lord continues forever, exalted in the heavens, ⁹ while his enemies—all evildoers—shall be scattered.

¹⁰ But you have made me as strong as a wild bull. How refreshed I am by your blessings!^{[b] 11} I have heard the doom of my enemies announced and seen them destroyed. ¹² But the godly shall flourish like palm trees and grow tall as the cedars of Lebanon. ¹³ For they are transplanted into the Lord’s own garden and are under his personal care. ¹⁴ Even in old age they will still produce fruit and be vital and green. ¹⁵ This honors the Lord and exhibits his faithful care. He is my shelter. There is nothing but goodness in him!

³ “If you obey all of my commandments, ^4-5 I will give you regular rains, and the land will yield bumper crops, and the trees will be loaded with fruit long after the normal time!^[a] And grapes will still be ripening when sowing time comes again. You shall eat your fill, and live safely in the land, ⁶ for I will give you peace, and you will go to sleep without fear. I will chase away the dangerous animals. ⁷ You will chase your enemies; they will die beneath your swords. ⁸ Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you, ten thousand! You will defeat all of your enemies. ⁹ I will look after you, and multiply you, and fulfill my covenant with you. ¹⁰ You will have such a surplus of crops that you won’t know what to do with them when the new harvest is ready! ¹¹ And I will live among you and not despise you. ¹² I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be my people. ¹³ For I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, so that you would be slaves no longer; I have broken your chains so that you can walk with dignity.^[b]

¹⁴ “But if you will not listen to me or obey me, ¹⁵ but reject my laws, ¹⁶ this is what I will do to you: I will punish you with sudden terrors and panic, and with tuberculosis and burning fever; your eyes shall be consumed and your life shall ebb away; you will sow your crops in vain, for your enemies will eat them. ¹⁷ I will set my face against you and you will flee before your attackers; those who hate you will rule you; you will even run when no one is chasing you!

¹⁸ “And if you still disobey me, I will punish you seven times more severely for your sins. ¹⁹ I will break your proud power and make your heavens as iron and your earth as bronze. ²⁰ Your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its crops, nor your trees their fruit.

4 ^1-2 Let me add this, dear brothers: You already know how to please God in your daily living, for you know the commands we gave you from the Lord Jesus himself. Now we beg you—yes, we demand of you in the name of the Lord Jesus—that you live more and more closely to that ideal. ^3-4 For God wants you to be holy and pure and to keep clear of all sexual sin so that each of you will marry in holiness and honor— ⁵ not in lustful passion as the heathen do, in their ignorance of God and his ways.

⁶ And this also is God’s will: that you never cheat in this matter by taking another man’s wife because the Lord will punish you terribly for this, as we have solemnly told you before. ⁷ For God has not called us to be dirty-minded and full of lust but to be holy and clean. ⁸ If anyone refuses to live by these rules, he is not disobeying the rules of men but of God who gives his Holy Spirit to you.