Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Book 5
Psalms 107—150
God Saves from Many Dangers
107 Thank the Lord because he is good.
His love continues forever.
2 That is what the people the Lord has saved should say.
They are the ones he has saved from the enemy.
3 He has gathered them from other lands,
from east and west, north and south.
4 Some people had wandered in the desert lands.
They found no city to live in.
5 They were hungry and thirsty.
They were discouraged.
6 In their misery they cried out to the Lord.
And he saved them from their troubles.
7 He led them on a straight road
to a city where they could live.
8 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his love
and for the miracles he does for people.
9 He satisfies the thirsty.
He fills up the hungry.
43 Whoever is wise will remember these things.
He will think about the love of the Lord.
Israel’s Punishment
9 Israel, do not rejoice.
Don’t celebrate as the other nations do.
You have been unfaithful to your God.
You love the grain on your threshing floors.
So you worship the gods who supposedly gave it.
2 But there won’t be enough grain to feed the people.
And there won’t be enough wine to go around.
3 The Israelites will not stay in the Lord’s land.
Israel will return to being captives as they were in Egypt.
In Assyria they will eat food that they are not allowed to eat.
4 The Israelites will not give offerings of wine to the Lord.
Their sacrifices will not please him.
Their sacrifices will be like food that is eaten at a funeral.
It is unclean, and everyone who eats it becomes unclean.
Their food will only satisfy their hunger.
They cannot sacrifice it in the Temple.
5 What will you do then on the day of feasts
and on the festival days of the Lord?
6 Even if the people are not destroyed,
Egypt will take them as captives.
They will be buried in Memphis.[a]
Weeds will grow over their silver treasures.
Thorns will grow over their houses.
7 Let Israel know this.
The time of punishment has come.
The time to pay for your sins has come.
You have sinned very much,
and your hatred is great.
You think the prophet is a fool.
You say the spiritual man is crazy.
8 The prophet is God’s watchman
to warn Israel of danger.
But everywhere he goes you set traps for him.
You treat him as an enemy in God’s own land.
9 The men of Israel have become as sinful
as the men of Gibeah[b] were.
The Lord will remember the evil things they have done.
He will punish them for their sins.
10 “When I found Israel,
it was like finding grapes in the desert.
Your ancestors were like
finding the first figs on the tree.
But when they came to Baal Peor,
they began worshiping an idol.
They became as disgusting as the thing they worshiped.
11 Israel’s glory will fly away like a bird.
There will be no more pregnancies, no more births, no more babies.
12 But even if the Israelites bring up children,
I will take them all away.
How terrible it will be for them
when I turn away from them!
13 I have seen Israel, like Tyre,
given a pleasant place.
But the people of Israel will soon bring out
their children to be killed.”
14 Lord, give them what they should have.
What will you give them?
Make their women unable to have children.
Give them breasts that cannot feed their babies.
15 “The Israelites were wicked in Gilgal,
so I began to hate them there.
Because of the sinful things they have done,
I will force them to leave my land.
I will no longer love them.
Their leaders have turned against me.
16 Israel is like a sick plant.
Its root is dying, and it has no fruit.
So the people will have no more children.
And if they did, I would kill the children they love.”
17 God will reject them,
because they have not obeyed him.
They will wander among the nations.
The Way You Should Live
17 In the Lord’s name, I tell you this. I warn you: Do not continue living like those who do not believe. Their thoughts are worth nothing. 18 They do not understand. They know nothing, because they refuse to listen. So they cannot have the life that God gives. 19 They have lost their feeling of shame. And they use their lives for doing evil. More and more they want to do all kinds of evil things. 20 But the things you learned in Christ were not like this. 21 I know that you heard about him, and you are in him; so you were taught the truth. Yes, the truth is in Jesus. 22 You were taught to leave your old self—to stop living the evil way you lived before. That old self becomes worse and worse because people are fooled by the evil things they want to do. 23 But you were taught to be made new in your hearts. 24 You were taught to become a new person. That new person is made to be like God—made to be truly good and holy.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.