Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 75
God Judges the Wicked
For the choir director: “Do Not Destroy.”[a] A psalm of Asaph.(A) A song.
1 We give thanks to You, God;
we give thanks to You, for Your name is near.
People tell about Your wonderful works.(B)
2 “When I choose a time,
I will judge fairly.(C)
3 When the earth and all its inhabitants shake,
I am the One who steadies its pillars.(D)
4 I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’
and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn.(E)
5 Do not lift up your horn against heaven
or speak arrogantly.’”(F)
6 Exaltation does not come
from the east, the west, or the desert,
7 for God is the Judge:
He brings down one and exalts another.(G)
8 For there is a cup in the Lord’s hand,
full of wine blended with spices, and He pours from it.
All the wicked of the earth will drink,
draining it to the dregs.(H)
9 As for me, I will tell about Him forever;
I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.(I)
1 The oracle concerning Nineveh.(A) The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
God’s Vengeance
2 The Lord is a jealous and avenging God;
the Lord takes vengeance
and is fierce in[a] wrath.
The Lord takes vengeance against His foes;
He is furious with His enemies.(B)
3 The Lord is slow to anger but great in power;
the Lord will never leave the guilty unpunished.(C)
His path is in the whirlwind and storm,
and clouds are the dust beneath His feet.
4 He rebukes the sea so that it dries up,
and He makes all the rivers run dry.(D)
Bashan and Carmel wither;(E)
even the flower of Lebanon withers.
5 The mountains quake before Him,
and the hills melt;
the earth trembles[b][c] at His presence—
the world and all who live in it.(F)
6 Who can withstand His indignation?
Who can endure His burning anger?(G)
His wrath is poured out like fire,
even rocks are shattered before Him.
Destruction of Nineveh
7 The Lord is good,
a stronghold in a day of distress;
He cares for those who take refuge(H) in Him.
8 But He will completely destroy Nineveh[d]
with an overwhelming flood,(I)
and He will chase His enemies into darkness.
9 Whatever you[e] plot against the Lord,
He will bring it to complete destruction;(J)
oppression will not rise up a second time.
10 For they will be consumed
like entangled thorns,(K)
like the drink of a drunkard
and like straw that is fully dry.[f]
11 One has gone out from you,[g]
who plots evil against Yahweh,
and is a wicked counselor.
Promise of Judah’s Deliverance
12 This is what the Lord says:
12 This demands the perseverance[a] of the saints,(A) who keep God’s commands and their faith in Jesus.”[b]
13 Then I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write: The dead who die in the Lord from now on are blessed.”(B)
“Yes,” says the Spirit, “let them rest from their labors, for their works follow them!”
Reaping the Earth’s Harvest
14 Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and One like the Son of Man[c](C) was seated on the cloud, with a gold crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. 15 Another angel came out of the sanctuary, crying out in a loud voice to the One who was seated on the cloud, “Use your sickle and reap, for the time to reap has come, since the harvest of the earth is ripe.”(D) 16 So the One seated on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.
17 Then another angel who also had a sharp sickle came out of the sanctuary in heaven. 18 Yet another angel, who had authority over fire, came from the altar, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from earth’s vineyard, because its grapes have ripened.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle toward earth and gathered the grapes from earth’s vineyard, and he threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath.(E) 20 Then the press was trampled outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press up to the horses’ bridles for about 180 miles.[d](F)
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