Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 92
It Is Good to Praise the Lord
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A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath.
A Call to Praise
1 It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to make music to your name, O Most High,
2 to proclaim your mercy in the morning
and your faithfulness every night,
3 with a ten-stringed instrument and with a harp,
with a melody on a lyre.
The Blessings of Praise
4 Yes, you make me glad by your work, O Lord.
I sing loudly at the works of your hands.
5 How great are your works, O Lord.
Your thoughts are very deep!
The Folly and Fall of the Wicked
6 The senseless man does not know,
and the fool does not understand this—
7 when the wicked spring up like weeds,
and all evildoers bloom like flowers,
they will be destroyed forever.
Central Affirmation
8 But you are exalted forever, O Lord.
The Fall of the Wicked
9 Without a doubt your enemies, O Lord,
without a doubt your enemies will perish.
All evildoers will be scattered.
The Blessing of the Righteous
10 But you have raised my horn like that of a wild ox.[a]
I am drenched with fresh oil.[b]
11 My eyes have looked in triumph over my adversaries.
When evildoers rise against me, my ears hear their defeat.
12 The righteous will shoot up like a palm tree.
They will grow tall like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Planted in the house of the Lord,
they will shoot up in the courtyards of our God.
14 They will still produce fruit in old age.
They will stay fresh and green.
Closing Praise
15 Yes, they can proclaim, “The Lord is upright.
He is my Rock, and he does no wrong.”
The Blessings for Obedience
28 If you fully obey the voice of the Lord your God by carefully carrying out all his commandments that I am giving you today, then the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 All of the following blessings will come upon you and overtake you, if you listen to the voice of the Lord your God:
3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the fields.
4 You will be blessed in the fruit of your womb, in the fruit of your soil, and in the fruit of your animals: the calves of your cattle and the lambs of your flock.
5 You will be blessed in your basket and in your kneading trough.
6 You will be blessed when you come in, and you will be blessed when you go out.
7 The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you. From one direction they will come out against you, but they will flee from you in seven directions.
8 The Lord will command a blessing on you in your storehouses and in regard to every action of your hand, and he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
9 The Lord will establish you as his holy people, just as he swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and you walk in his ways.
10 Then all the people of the earth will see that the name of the Lord has been proclaimed over you, and they will fear you.
11 The Lord will cause you to be overflowing with good things: with the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your animals, and the fruit of the soil of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you.
12 The Lord will open for you his good storehouse, the heavens, by giving rain for your land in its season and by blessing all the work of your hand.
Then you will cause many nations to borrow from you, but you yourself will not borrow.
13 The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will be only at the top and never at the bottom, if you conscientiously obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today to carry out, 14 and if you do not turn away to the right or to the left from all the words that I am commanding you today, to walk after other gods and serve them.
Living Changed Lives
17 So I tell you this and testify to it in the Lord: Do not walk any longer as the Gentiles walk, in their futile way of thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, due to the hardness of their hearts. 19 Because they have no sense of shame, they have given themselves over to sensuality, with an ever-increasing desire to practice every kind of impurity.
20 But you did not learn Christ in that way, 21 if indeed you have heard of him and were taught in him (since the truth is in Jesus). 22 As far as your former way of life is concerned, you were taught to take off the old self, which is corrupted by its deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed continually in the spirit of your mind, 24 and to put on the new self, which has been created to be like God in righteousness and true holiness.
25 Therefore, after you put away lying, let each of you speak truthfully with your neighbor, because we are all members of one body. 26 “Be angry, yet do not sin.”[a] Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry. 27 Do not give the Devil an opportunity. 28 Let the one who has been stealing steal no longer. Instead, let him work hard doing what is good with his own hands, so that he has something to share with a person who is in need. 29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come from your mouths. Say only what is beneficial when there is a need to build up others, so that it will be a blessing to those who hear. 30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of every kind of bitterness, rage, anger, quarreling, and slander, along with every kind of malice. 32 Instead, be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ has forgiven us.[b]
5 Therefore, be imitators of God as his dearly loved children. 2 And walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.