Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 92[a]
A psalm; a song for the Sabbath day.
92 It is fitting[b] to thank the Lord,
and to sing praises to your name, O Most High.[c]
2 It is fitting[d] to proclaim your loyal love in the morning,
and your faithfulness during the night,
3 to the accompaniment of a ten-stringed instrument and a lyre,
to the accompaniment of the meditative tone of the harp.
4 For you, O Lord, have made me happy by your work.
I will sing for joy because of what you have done.[e]
5 How great are your works, O Lord!
Your plans are very intricate![f]
6 The spiritually insensitive do not recognize this;
the fool does not understand this.[g]
7 When the wicked sprout up like grass,
and all the evildoers glisten,[h]
it is so that they may be annihilated.[i]
8 But you, O Lord, reign[j] forever.
9 Indeed,[k] look at your enemies, O Lord.
Indeed,[l] look at how your enemies perish.
All the evildoers are scattered.
10 You exalt my horn like that of a wild ox.[m]
I am covered[n] with fresh oil.
11 I gloat in triumph over those who tried to ambush me;[o]
I hear the defeated cries of the evil foes who attacked me.[p]
12 The godly[q] grow like a palm tree;
they grow high like a cedar in Lebanon.[r]
13 Planted in the Lord’s house,
they grow in the courts of our God.
14 They bear fruit even when they are old;
they are filled with vitality and have many leaves.[s]
15 So they proclaim that the Lord, my Protector,
is just and never unfair.[t]
The Benefits of Obedience
3 “‘If you walk in my statutes and are sure to obey my commandments,[a] 4 I will give you your rains in their time so that[b] the land will give its yield and the trees of the field will produce their fruit.[c] 5 Threshing season will extend for you until the season for harvesting grapes,[d] and the season for harvesting grapes will extend until sowing season, so[e] you will eat your bread until you are satisfied,[f] and you will live securely in your land. 6 I will grant peace in the land so that[g] you will lie down to sleep without anyone terrifying you.[h] I will remove harmful animals[i] from the land, and no sword of war[j] will pass through your land. 7 You will pursue your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword.[k] 8 Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword. 9 I will turn to you, make you fruitful, multiply you, and maintain[l] my covenant with you. 10 You will still be eating stored produce from the previous year[m] and will have to clean out what is stored from the previous year to make room for new.[n]
11 “‘I will put my tabernacle[o] in your midst and I will not abhor you.[p] 12 I will walk among you, and I will be your God and you will be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from being their slaves,[q] and I broke the bars of your yoke and caused you to walk upright.[r]
The Consequences of Disobedience
14 “‘If, however,[s] you do not obey me and keep[t] all these commandments— 15 if you reject my statutes and abhor my regulations so that you do not keep[u] all my commandments and you break my covenant— 16 I for my part[v] will do this to you: I will inflict horror on you, consumption and fever, which diminish eyesight and drain away the vitality of life.[w] You will sow your seed in vain because[x] your enemies will eat it.[y] 17 I will set my face against you. You will be struck down before your enemies, those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when there is no one pursuing you.
18 “‘If, in spite of all these things,[z] you do not obey me, I will discipline you seven times more on account of your sins.[aa] 19 I will break your strong pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze. 20 Your strength will be used up in vain, your land will not give its yield, and the trees of the land[ab] will not produce their fruit.
A Life Pleasing to God
4 Finally then, brothers and sisters,[a] we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received instruction from us about how[b] you must live and please God (as you are in fact living)[c] that you do so more and more. 2 For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is God’s will: that you become holy,[d] that you keep away from sexual immorality, 4 that each of you know how to possess his own body[e] in holiness and honor, 5 not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God. 6 In this matter no one should violate the rights of his brother or take advantage of him,[f] because the Lord is the avenger in all these cases,[g] as we also told you earlier and warned you solemnly. 7 For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness. 8 Consequently the one who rejects this is not rejecting human authority[h] but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
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