Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A psalm of David when he was in the Desert of Judah.
63 God, you are my God.
I seek you with all my heart.
With all my strength I thirst for you
in this dry desert
where there isn’t any water.
2 I have seen you in the sacred tent.
There I have seen your power and your glory.
3 Your love is better than life.
So I will bring glory to you with my lips.
4 I will praise you as long as I live.
I will call on your name when I lift up my hands in prayer.
5 I will be as satisfied as if I had eaten the best food there is.
I will sing praise to you with my mouth.
6 As I lie on my bed I remember you.
I think of you all night long.
7 Because you have helped me,
I sing in the shadow of your wings.
8 I hold on to you tightly.
Your powerful right hand takes good care of me.
9 Those who want to kill me will be destroyed.
They will go down into the grave.
10 They will be killed by swords.
They will become food for wild dogs.
11 But the king will be filled with joy because of what God has done.
All those who make promises in God’s name will be able to brag.
But the mouths of liars will be shut.
7 People of Jacob, you are proud that the Lord is your God. But he has made a promise in his own name. He says, “I will never forget anything Israel has done.
8 “The land will tremble because of what will happen.
Everyone who lives in it will mourn.
So the whole land will rise like the Nile River.
It will be stirred up.
Then it will settle back down again
like that river in Egypt.”
9 The Lord and King announces,
“At that time I will make the sun go down at noon.
The earth will become dark in the middle of the day.
10 I will turn your holy feasts into times for mourning.
I will turn all your songs into weeping.
You will have to wear the clothing of sadness.
You will shave your heads.
I will make you mourn as if your only son had died.
The end of that time will be like a bitter day.”
11 The Lord and King announces,
“The days are coming
when I will send hunger through the land.
But people will not be hungry for food.
They will not be thirsty for water.
Instead, they will be hungry
to hear a message from me.
12 People will wander from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean.
They will travel from north to east.
They will look for a message from me.
But they will not find it.
13 “At that time
“the lovely young women and strong young men
will faint because they are so thirsty.
14 Some people make promises in the name of Samaria’s god.
That god has led them astray.
Others say, ‘People of Dan, you can be sure
that your god is alive.’
Still others say, ‘You can be sure
that Beersheba’s god is alive.’
But all these people will fall dead.
They will never get up again.”
20 Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. Be like babies as far as evil is concerned. But be grown up in your thinking. 21 In the law it is written,
“With unfamiliar languages
and through the lips of outsiders
I will speak to these people.
But even then they will not listen to me.” (Isaiah 28:11,12)
That is what the Lord says.
22 So speaking in other languages is a sign for those who don’t believe. It is not a sign for those who do believe. But prophecy is not for those who don’t believe. It is for those who believe. 23 Suppose the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in other languages. And suppose visitors or unbelievers come in. Won’t they say you are out of your minds? 24 But suppose unbelievers or visitors come in while everyone is prophesying. Then they will feel guilty about their sin. They will be judged by all. 25 The secrets of their hearts will be brought out into the open. They will fall down and worship God. They will exclaim, “God is really here among you!”
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