Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 145

[A Psalm] of praise. Of David.

¹ I will extol You, my God, O King; and I will bless Your name forever and ever [with grateful, affectionate praise].

² Every day [with its new reasons] will I bless You [affectionately and gratefully praise You]; yes, I will praise Your name forever and ever.

³ Great is the Lord and highly to be praised; and His greatness is [so vast and deep as to be] unsearchable.^(A)

⁴ One generation shall laud Your works to another and shall declare Your mighty acts.

⁵ On the glorious splendor of Your majesty and on Your wondrous works I will meditate.

⁶ Men shall speak of the might of Your tremendous and terrible acts, and I will declare Your greatness.

⁷ They shall pour forth [like a fountain] the fame of Your great and abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of Your rightness and justice.

⁸ The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and abounding in mercy and loving-kindness.

1 The burden or oracle (the thing to be lifted up) concerning ^[a]Nineveh [the capital of Assyria]. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.

¹⁴ And the Lord has given a commandment concerning you [evil Assyrian counselor], that no more of your name shall be born nor shall your name be perpetuated. Out of the house of your gods I will cut off the graven and molten images; I will make [their temple] your tomb, for you are vile and despised.^(A)

¹⁵ Behold! upon the mountains the feet of him who brings good tidings [telling of the Assyrian’s death], who publishes peace! Celebrate your feasts, O Judah; perform your vows. For the wicked counselor [the king of Assyria] shall no more come against you or pass through your land; he is utterly cut off. ^(B) [Then the prophet Nahum sarcastically addresses his message to Nineveh:]

2 He who dashes in pieces [that is, the king of Medo-Babylon] is come up before your face [Nineveh]. Keep the fortress and ramparts manned, watch the road, gird your loins, collect and fortify all your strength and power mightily.

² For the Lord restores the excellency of Jacob as the excellency of [ancient] Israel, for plunderers have plundered them and emptied them out and [outrageously] destroyed their vine branches.^(C)

13 This is the third time that I am coming to you. By the testimony of two or three witnesses must any charge and every accusing statement be sustained and confirmed.^(A)

² I have already warned those who sinned formerly and all the rest also, and I warn them now again while I am absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come back, I will not spare [them],

³ Since you desire and seek [perceptible] proof of the Christ Who speaks in and through me. [For He] is not weak and feeble in dealing with you, but is a mighty power within you;

⁴ For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He goes on living by the power of God. And though we too are weak in Him [as He was humanly weak], yet in dealing with you [we shall show ourselves] alive and strong in [fellowship with] Him by the power of God.