◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 80:1-7 17-19 (We shall be saved); Zechariah 14:1-9 (God will come to rule); 1 Thessalonians 4:1-18 (A life pleasing God to the end) (New Catholic Bible)

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November 27, 2026

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with thematically matched Old and New Testament readings.

Duration: 1245 days

Psalm 80:1-7

Psalm 80^[a]

Prayer for the Persecuted People

¹For the director.^[b] According to “Lilies.” Eduth. A psalm of Asaph.

²^[c]Listen to us, O shepherd of Israel,^[d]
    you who lead Joseph like a flock.
As you sit enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
³    over Ephraim,^[e] Benjamin, and Manasseh.
Stir up your power
    and come to save us.
⁴Restore us, O Lord of hosts;
    let your face shine^[f] upon us,
    and we will be saved.
⁵O Lord of hosts,^[g]
    how long will you be angry
    at your people’s prayers?
⁶You have fed them with the bread of tears
    and made them drink tears beyond measure.
⁷You have made us an object of contention to our neighbors,
    a source of mockery to our enemies.

Psalm 80:17-19

¹⁷Let those who would burn it or cut it down
    perish when confronted by your rebuke.
¹⁸Let your hand rest upon the man at your right,^[a]
    the son of man that you yourself made strong.
¹⁹Then we will never again turn away from you;
    give us life and we will call upon your name.^[b]

Zechariah 14:1-9

VIII: The Final Combat and the New Jerusalem^[a]

Chapter 14

¹Behold, a day is coming for the Lord, when the plunder taken from you will be divided in your midst. ²For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem for battle. The city will be taken, the houses plundered, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken away from the city.

³Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, fighting as on a day of battle. ⁴On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies to the east of Jerusalem. The Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west by an immense valley, so that half of the mountain will move north and the other half will move south. ⁵You will flee by the valley of the Lord’s mountain, for the valley between the hills will be blocked, and the new valley between them will reach as far as Azal. It will be filled in, as it was by the earthquake, in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all his holy ones with him.^[b]

⁶On that day there will be neither cold nor frost. ⁷And it will be one continuous day, known only to the Lord, and there will be no more day and night, for there will be light even during the evening. ⁸And when that day comes, living waters will flow out from Jerusalem, half flowing toward the eastern sea^[c] and half toward the western sea, and they will continue to flow in both summer and winter. ⁹The Lord will become king over the whole earth. When that day comes, he will be the only Lord, and his name will be the only name.

1 Thessalonians 4

God Wills Your Sanctification^[a]

Chapter 4

Respect for the Body.^[b] ¹Finally, brethren, you learned from us how you ought to live so that you may be pleasing to God—and as you are indeed doing. Now we ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus to do so even more. ²For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

³It is the will of God that you should lead a life of sanctity. You must refrain from sexual immorality. ⁴Each of you must learn to acquire a wife from pure and honorable motives, ⁵not to gratify passion^[c] like the Gentiles who do not know God. ⁶No one is ever to wrong or take advantage of a brother in this regard.

As we have previously instructed you and solemnly warned you, the Lord is the avenger in all this. ⁷For God has called us to holiness, not to impurity. ⁸Therefore, anyone who rejects these instructions^[d] rejects not human authority but the God who also gives his Holy Spirit to you.

An Honorable Life.^[e] ⁹In respect to brotherly love, there is no necessity to write to you about that, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. ¹⁰And indeed you have shown your love to all the brethren throughout Macedonia. However, we urge you, brethren, to make even greater progress in this regard.

¹¹Strive to live quietly, to attend to your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you.^[f] ¹²In this way, you will earn the respect of outsiders and not have to be dependent on anyone.

¹³The Dead and the Living at the Lord’s Coming.^[g] We do not wish you to be uncertain, brethren, about those who have fallen asleep.^[h] You should not grieve as do those who have no hope. ¹⁴For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so too do we believe that God will bring forth with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.

¹⁵Indeed, we can assure you, on the word of the Lord himself, that we who are still alive at the coming of the Lord will not have any advantage over those who have fallen asleep.^[i] ¹⁶When the command is given, at the sound of the archangel’s voice and the call of God’s trumpet, the Lord himself will descend from heaven, and those who have died in Christ will be the first to rise.

¹⁷Then those of us who are still alive and are left will be caught up^[j] together with them on clouds in the air to meet the Lord. And so, we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸Therefore, comfort one another^[k] with these words.

Footnotes

1 Thessalonians 4:1 Conversion to Christ involves a total rejection of the values and the way of life that one previously led. Speaking of sanctification and holiness in Biblical language, we are conscious of being in the presence of the Lord. This gives new value to the destiny, action, and relationships of human beings—nothing is any longer lost in insignificance. In his correspondence, Paul always underlines some important traits for one’s way of life, in keeping with the needs of the community. He does so usually by way of a warm exhortation, but sometimes also by way of a warning. The Christian life is a journey toward a goal: union with God in Christ.
1 Thessalonians 4:1 In the language of the period, two interpretations are possible: that each person should take a spouse in order to live honorably (see 1 Cor 7:2); or that each should exercise self-control and self-respect. In either case, and in light of the dissolute morals of the period, the affirmation of marriage and of sexual morality was a rejection of a meaningless and sordid existence. Paul has a high idea of human beings, for he views them in the call of God addressed to him. The effort of Christians arises from living ties with the divine Persons.
1 Thessalonians 4:5 Acquire a wife . . . gratify passion: another possible translation is: “control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable and not to succumb to lustful passion.”
1 Thessalonians 4:8 Instructions: this word does not necessarily refer to the sayings of Jesus but rather to guidelines set forth in the Holy Spirit.
1 Thessalonians 4:9 God pours the Spirit into the hearts of believers and that Spirit guides them in God’s ways. However, other questions remain: certain Christians, awaiting the imminent coming of the Lord, experience a crisis of laziness (see 2 Thes 3:6-12); they must be seriously reminded of the personal and social life, without which love is but a futile word.
1 Thessalonians 4:11 The early Church strongly believed in the need of Christians to earn their living. However, some of the converts—possibly as a result of their belief in Christ’s imminent return (see 2 Thes 3:11)—were not working and so were letting others support them.
1 Thessalonians 4:13 We are now at the heart of the Letter. Some Christians of Thessalonica have a few difficulties. One or other believer has died, and they cannot shake the image of those beautiful cemeteries built at the edge of cities like “high places” of despair. Christ must appear; this definitive coming mobilizes the hope of all; but will not Christians who have died be deprived of this grand and triumphant coming?
In speaking of this resurrection, Paul uses the images and symbols of the Jewish apocalypses, just as in describing the return of Christ he compares it to the “parousias” or official visits of the emperors to the great cities, where the people escorted them in a lengthy procession. The scene has its grandeur, but the essential is to be found elsewhere: the solid conviction of believers that they are with Christ forever. These words sum up the final message of Christian hope.
1 Thessalonians 4:13 Those who have fallen asleep: sleep was an especially apt metaphor for death, since the finality and horror of death disappear in the assurance of the resurrection.
1 Thessalonians 4:15 Here Paul seems to be hoping that the parousia would take place within his own lifetime. We can say that while entertaining the possibility of his own death (see 2 Tim 4:6-8) and not wanting to go against Christ’s teaching about the date of the parousia (see Mt 24:48; 25:5; Lk 19:11-27), Paul (and all the first Christians) reckoned on the prospect of remaining alive until Christ’s return (Rom 13:11; 1 Cor 7:26, 29; 10:11; 15:51-52; 16:22; Phil 4:5). The word of the Lord: this may refer to a special revelation or simply be a general reference to the teachings of Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 4:17 Will be caught up: literally, “will be carried away,” which in the Vulgate is translated by rapiemur. This Latin word has given birth to the idea of the “Rapture,” i.e., that believers will be carried away from the troubles of this world. It simply means that those who are alive on the Last Day will not have to die; they will be transformed.
1 Thessalonians 4:18 Comfort one another: vv. 13-18 are not primarily intended to provide a chronology of future events but rather to urge the Thessalonians to comfort one another.

New Catholic Bible (NCB)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 80[a]

Prayer for the Persecuted People

Footnotes

Footnotes

VIII: The Final Combat and the New Jerusalem[a]

Chapter 14

Footnotes

God Wills Your Sanctification[a]

Chapter 4

Footnotes

Psalm 80^[a]

VIII: The Final Combat and the New Jerusalem^[a]

God Wills Your Sanctification^[a]