Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Song of Thanksgiving
12 And you will say on that day,
“I will give you thanks, Yahweh,
for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
and you comforted me.
2 Look! God is my salvation;
I will trust, and I will not be afraid,
for my strength and might is Yah, Yahweh;
and he has become salvation for me.”
3 And you will draw water from the wells of salvation in joy. 4 And you will say on that day,
“Give thanks to Yahweh;
call on his name.
Make his deeds known among the peoples;
bring to remembrance that his name is exalted.
5 Sing praises to Yahweh, for he has done a glorious thing;
this is known in all the earth.
6 Inhabitant of Zion, shout out and sing for joy,
for the holy one of Israel is great in your midst.”
Rampant Transgression
59 Look! The hand of Yahweh is not too short to save,[a]
and his ear is not too dull to hear.[b]
2 Rather, your iniquities have been barriers[c] between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you, from hearing.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood,
and your fingers with iniquity.
Your lips have spoken lies,
your tongue speaks wickedness.
4 There is nobody who pleads with[d] justice,
and there is nobody who judges with honesty.
They rely on nothing
and speak vanity.
They conceive trouble
and beget iniquity;
5 they hatch viper eggs,
and they weave a spider web.
One who eats their eggs dies,
and that which is pressed is hatched as a serpent.
6 Their webs cannot become clothing,
and they cannot cover themselves with their works.
Their works are works of iniquity,
and deeds[e] of violence are in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil,
and they hasten to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
devastation and destruction are in their highways.
8 They do not know the way of peace,
and there is no justice in their firm paths.
They have made their paths crooked for themselves;
everyone who walks[f] in it knows no peace.
9 Therefore justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not reach us.
We wait for light, but[g] look! there is darkness;
for brightness, but we walk in darkness.
10 We grope like the blind along a wall,
and we grope as without[h] eyes.
We stumble at noon as in the twilight;
among the strong we are like the dead.
11 We all groan like bears,
and we coo mutteringly like doves.
We wait for justice, but[i] there is none;
for salvation, but it is far from us.
12 For our transgressions are numerous before you,
and our sins testify[j] against us.
Indeed, our transgressions are with us,
and we know our iniquities:
13 transgressing and denying Yahweh,
and turning away from following[k] our God;
speaking oppression and falsehood,
conceiving and uttering words of deception from the heart.
14 And justice is pushed back,
and righteousness stands afar;
for truth stumbles in the public square,
and straightforwardness is unable to enter,
15 and truth is missing,
and he who turns aside from evil is plundered.
And Yahweh saw,
and it was displeasing in his eyes that there was no justice
Thanksgiving for the Thessalonian Believers
3 We ought to give thanks to God always concerning you, brothers, just as it is fitting, because your faith is flourishing and the love of each one of you all toward one another is increasing 4 so that we ourselves boast in you in the churches of God about your patient endurance and faith in all your persecutions and the afflictions that you are enduring, 5 a proof of the righteous judgment of God, so that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, on behalf of which also you are suffering, 6 since it is righteous in the sight of God to pay back those who are afflicting you with affliction, 7 and to you who are being afflicted, rest with us at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels, 8 with burning flame[a] giving punishment to those who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, 9 who will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his strength, 10 whenever he should come to be glorified on that day by his saints and to be marveled at by all who believe, because our testimony was believed among you, 11 for which purpose we also pray always for you, that you may be considered worthy of the calling of our God, and he might fulfill every desire for goodness and work of faith with power,[b] 12 in order that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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