Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 145
The Lord Is Worthy of Praise
Heading
A song of praise. By David.
Praise
1 I will exalt you, my God, the King,
and I will bless your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.
Proclamation of His Greatness
3 Great is the Lord and worthy of great praise,
and there are no limits to the extent of his greatness.
Praise
4 One generation will praise your deeds to another,
and they will declare your mighty acts.
5 I will contemplate the glorious splendor of your majesty
and the accounts of your wonderful works.
6 Then they will speak about the power of your awesome works,
and I will tell about your great deeds.
7 They will pour forth the memory of your abundant goodness
and sing loudly about your righteousness.
Proclamation of His Grace
8 The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and great in mercy.
3 The shields of the mighty warriors are dyed red.
The soldiers are dressed in scarlet garments.
The steel fittings[a] of the chariots shine like fire on the day of battle.
The soldiers shake their spears.[b]
4 The chariots race wildly through the streets.
They rush back and forth in the city squares.
They look like lightning.
They dart about like flashes of lightning.
5 The commander[c] gives orders to his elite troops.
They fall over each other as they advance.
They rush to the city wall.
They set up the protective canopy over the battering ram.
6 The gates that hold back the river are opened,
and the palace is washed away.
7 She is stripped and is led away.
Her slave girls moan like doves
while they beat their breasts.[d]
8 Nineveh[e] was like a pool of water from her beginning,[f]
but now her people are running away.
She cries out, “Stop! Stop!” but no one turns back.
9 Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!
There is no end to the treasure.
There are riches of every kind of precious thing.
10 Destruction, devastation, and desolation!
Their hearts faint, their knees tremble,
every stomach churns, and each face turns pale!
11 What has become of the lions’ lair and the feeding place for young lions, where the lion, lioness, and lion’s cub prowled with nothing to fear? 12 The lion tore apart as much prey as his cubs needed and strangled prey to provide food for his lionesses. He filled his lairs with prey and his dens with torn flesh.
13 Beware! I am against you, declares the Lord of Armies. I will burn up your chariots in smoke. The sword will devour your young lions. You will no longer ravage the land. The voices of your messengers will no longer be heard.
5 Examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not know this about yourselves: that Jesus Christ is in you—unless perhaps you fail the test? 6 But I hope that you will recognize that we are not failing the test.
7 We pray to God that you may not do anything evil, not so that we may appear to have passed the test, but so that you may do what is good, even if we may seem like those who are failing to pass the test. 8 To be sure, we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth. 9 Yes, we rejoice whenever we are weak and you are strong. And we are praying for your complete restoration. 10 It is for this reason that I am writing these things while I am still absent, so that, when I am present, I may not have to deal harshly with you, using the authority that the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.