Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 147
147 Praise the Lord!
Because it is good to sing praise to our God!
Because it is a pleasure to make beautiful praise!
2 The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem, gathering up Israel’s exiles.
3 God heals the brokenhearted
and bandages their wounds.
4 God counts the stars by number,
giving each one a name.
5 Our Lord is great and so strong!
God’s knowledge can’t be grasped!
6 The Lord helps the poor,
but throws the wicked down on the dirt!
7 Sing to the Lord with thanks;
sing praises to our God with a lyre!
8 God covers the skies with clouds;
God makes rain for the earth;
God makes the mountains sprout green grass.
9 God gives food to the animals—
even to the baby ravens when they cry out.
10 God doesn’t prize the strength of a horse;
God doesn’t treasure the legs of a runner.
11 No. The Lord treasures the people
who honor him,
the people who wait for his faithful love.
20 God hasn’t done that with any other nation;
those nations have no knowledge of God’s rules.[a]
Praise the Lord!
Reason for continuing
36 Continuing, Elihu said,
2 Wait a little while so I can demonstrate for you
that there is still something more to say about God.
3 I will draw from my broad knowledge,
attribute justice to my maker.
4 My words are certainly truthful;
one with total knowledge is present with you.
Divine discipline
5 Look, God is mighty and doesn’t reject anyone;
he is mighty in strength and mind.
6 He doesn’t let the wicked live,
but grants justice to the poor.
7 He doesn’t avert his eyes from the righteous;
he seats kings on thrones forever,
and they are lifted up.
8 If they are tied with ropes,
caught in cords of affliction,
9 he informs them about their offenses
and their grave sins.
10 He opens their ears with discipline
and commands them to turn from wrong.
11 If they listen and serve,
they spend their days in plenty,
their years contentedly.
12 But if they don’t listen,
they perish by the sword,
breathe their last without understanding.
13 Those with impious hearts become furious;
they don’t cry out even though he binds them.
14 They die young;
they are among the holy ones.
15 He saves the weak in their affliction,
opens their ears through oppression.
16 Surely he draws you up from the brink of trouble
to a wide place without distress;
your table is set with rich food.
17 You are overly concerned about the case of the wicked;
justice will be upheld in it.
18 Don’t let them lure you with wealth;
don’t let a huge bribe mislead you.
19 Will he arrange your rescue from distress
or from all your exertions of strength?
20 Don’t wish for the night
when people vanish from their place.
21 Take care; don’t turn to evil
because you’ve chosen it over affliction.
22 Look, God is inaccessible due to his power;
who is a teacher like him?
23 Who has repaid him for his action,
and who would ever say, “You’ve done wrong”?
Waiving rights for the gospel
9 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Haven’t I seen Jesus our Lord? Aren’t you my work in the Lord? 2 If I’m not an apostle to others, at least I am to you! You are the seal that shows I’m an apostle. 3 This is my defense against those who criticize me. 4 Don’t we have the right to eat and drink? 5 Don’t we have the right to travel with a wife who believes like the rest of the apostles, the Lord’s brothers, and Cephas? 6 Or is it only I and Barnabas who don’t have the right to not work for our living? 7 Who joins the army and pays their own way? Who plants a vineyard and doesn’t eat its fruit? Who shepherds a flock and doesn’t drink its milk? 8 I’m not saying these things just based on common sense, am I? Doesn’t the Law itself say these things? 9 In Moses’ Law it’s written: You will not muzzle the ox when it is threshing.[a] Is God worried about oxen, 10 or did he say this entirely for our sake? It was written for our sake because the one who plows and the one who threshes should each do so with the hope of sharing the produce. 11 If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it so much to ask to harvest some material things from you?
12 If others have these rights over you, don’t we deserve them all the more? However, we haven’t made use of this right, but we put up with everything so we don’t put any obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. 13 Don’t you know that those who serve in the temple get to eat food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share part of what is sacrificed on the altar? 14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who preach the gospel should get their living from the gospel. 15 But I haven’t taken advantage of this. And I’m not writing this so that it will be done for me. It’s better for me to die than to lose my right to brag about this! 16 If I preach the gospel, I have no reason to brag, since I’m obligated to do it. I’m in trouble if I don’t preach the gospel.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible