Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 84
For the choir director; on the gittith; a psalm by Korah’s descendants.
1 Your dwelling place is lovely, O Yahweh Tsebaoth!
2 My soul longs and yearns
for Yahweh’s courtyards.
My whole body shouts for joy to El Chay.
3 Even sparrows find a home,
and swallows find a nest for themselves.
There they hatch their young
near your altars, O Yahweh Tsebaoth,
my Melek and my Elohim.
4 Blessed are those who live in your house.
They are always praising you. Selah
5 Blessed are those who find strength in you.
Their hearts are on the road that leads to you.[a]
6 As they pass through a valley where balsam trees grow,[b]
they make it a place of springs.
The early rains cover it with blessings.[c]
7 Their strength grows as they go along
until each one of them appears
in front of Elohim in Zion.
9 [a]“I wish that my head were filled with water
and my eyes were a fountain of tears
so that I could cry day and night
for my dear people who have been killed.
2 I wish I had a place to stay in the desert.
I would abandon my people and go away from them.
They are all adulterers,
a mob of traitors.
3 They use their tongues like bows that shoot arrows.
Lies and dishonesty rule the land.[b]
They go from one evil thing to another,
and they don’t know me,” declares Yahweh.
4 “Beware of your neighbors.
Don’t trust your relatives.
Every relative cheats.
Every neighbor goes around slandering.
5 Everyone cheats his neighbor.
No one speaks the truth.
My people train their tongues to speak lies.
They wear themselves out doing wrong.
6 Oppression follows oppression.[c]
Deceit follows deceit.
They refuse to acknowledge me,” declares Yahweh.
7 This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth says:
I will now refine them with fire and test them.
What else can I do for my dear people?
8 Their tongues are like deadly arrows.
They speak deceitfully.
People speak politely to their neighbors,
but they think of ways to set traps for them.
9 I will punish them for these things, declares Yahweh.
I will punish this nation.
I still won’t be satisfied.
10 I will cry and weep for the mountains.
I will sing a funeral song for the pastures in the wilderness.
They are destroyed so that no one can travel through them.
No one can hear the sound of cattle.
Birds and cattle have fled.
They are gone.
11 I will turn Jerusalem into a pile of rubble, a home for jackals.
I will destroy the cities of Judah so that no one can live there.
12 No one is wise enough to understand this.
To whom has Yahweh revealed this
so that they can explain it?
The land dies; it has been ruined like the desert
so that no one can travel through it.
13 Yahweh answered,
“They’ve abandoned my teachings that I placed in front of them.
They didn’t obey me, and they didn’t follow them.
14 They followed their own stubborn ways and other gods—the Baals,
as their ancestors taught them.”
15 This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth, the Elohim of Israel, says:
I am going to feed these people bitterness
and give them poison to drink.
16 I will scatter them among nations
that they and their ancestors haven’t heard of.
I will send armies after them until I’ve wiped them out.
Watch Out for Sinful People
3 You must understand this: In the last days there will be violent periods of time. 2 People will be selfish and love money. They will brag, be arrogant, and use abusive language. They will curse their parents, show no gratitude, have no respect for what is holy, 3 and lack normal affection for their families. They will refuse to make peace with anyone. They will be slanderous, lack self-control, be brutal, and have no love for what is good. 4 They will be traitors. They will be reckless and conceited. They will love pleasure rather than God. 5 They will appear to have a godly life, but they will not let its power change them. Stay away from such people.
6 Some of these men go into homes and mislead weak-minded women who are burdened with sins and led by all kinds of desires. 7 These women are always studying but are never able to recognize the truth.
8 As Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men oppose the truth. Their minds are corrupt, and the faith they teach is counterfeit. 9 Certainly, they won’t get very far. Like the stupidity of Jannes and Jambres, their stupidity will be plain to everyone.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.