Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
For the choir director; a song; a psalm.
66 Shout happily to God, all the earth!
2 Make music to praise the glory of his name.
Make his praise glorious.
3 Say to God,
“How awe-inspiring are your deeds!
Your power is so great that your enemies will cringe in front of you.
4 The whole earth will worship you.
It will make music to praise you.
It will make music to praise your name.” Selah
5 Come and see what God has done—
his awe-inspiring deeds for Adam’s descendants.
6 He turned the sea into dry land.
They crossed the river on foot.
We rejoiced because of what he did there.
7 He rules forever with his might.
His eyes watch the nations.
Rebels will not be able to oppose him. Selah
8 Thank our God, you nations.
Make the sound of his praise heard.
9 He has kept us alive
and has not allowed us to fall.
47 That is why the days are coming when I will punish Babylon’s idols.
The whole country will be put to shame,
and all its soldiers will lie dead.
48 Then heaven and earth and everything in them will rejoice over Babylon,
because destroyers from the north will attack it,”
declares the Lord.
49 Because the people of Babylon have killed many Israelites
and because they have killed many people throughout the earth,
Babylon must fall.
50 You people who escaped from the sword, leave!
Don’t just stand there.
Remember the Lord in a distant land, and think about Jerusalem.
51 We have been put to shame, and we have been disgraced.
Shame covers our faces, because foreigners have gone
into the holy places of the Lord’s temple.
52 “That is why the days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will punish their idols,
and those who are wounded will moan everywhere in the land.
53 The people of Babylon might go up to heaven.
They might fortify their strongholds.
But destroyers will still come from me against them,”
declares the Lord.
54 Cries of agony are heard from Babylon.
Sounds of terrible destruction are heard
from the land of the Babylonians.
55 The Lord will destroy Babylon.
He will silence the loud noise coming from it.
Waves of enemies will come roaring in like raging water.
The noise will be heard everywhere.
56 A destroyer will attack Babylon,
its soldiers will be captured,
and their bows and arrows will be broken.
“I, the Lord, am a God who punishes evil.
I will certainly punish them.
57 I will make their officials and wise men drunk,
along with their governors, officers, and soldiers.
They will fall into a deep sleep and never wake up,”
declares the king, whose name is the Lord of Armies.
58 This is what the Lord of Armies says:
The thick walls of Babylon will be leveled,
and its high gates will be set on fire.
People exhaust themselves for nothing.
The nations wear themselves out only to have a fire.
The Collection for Christians in Jerusalem
8 Brothers and sisters, we want you to know how God showed his kindness [a] to the churches in the province of Macedonia. 2 While they were being severely tested by suffering, their overflowing joy, along with their extreme poverty, has made them even more generous. 3 I assure you that by their own free will they have given all they could, even more than they could afford. 4 They made an appeal to us, begging us to let them participate in the ministry of God’s kindness to his holy people ⌞in Jerusalem⌟. 5 They did more than we had expected. First, they gave themselves to the Lord and to us, since this was God’s will. 6 This led us to urge Titus to finish his work of God’s kindness among you in the same way as he had already started it.
7 Indeed, the more your faith, your ability to speak, your knowledge, your dedication, and your love for us increase, the more we want you to participate in this work of God’s kindness.
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