Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Praise for deliverance.

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

24 Behold, Jehovah maketh the ^[a]earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. ² And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the creditor, so with the debtor; as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest to him. ³ The earth shall be utterly emptied, and utterly laid waste; for Jehovah hath spoken this word. ⁴ The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, ^[b]the lofty people of the earth do languish. ⁵ The earth also is polluted under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. ⁶ Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are found guilty: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. ⁷ The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merry-hearted do sigh. ⁸ The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. ⁹ They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. ¹⁰ The waste city is broken down; every house is shut up, that no man may come in. ¹¹ There is a crying in the streets because of the wine; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is ^[c]gone. ¹² In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction. ¹³ For thus shall it be in the midst of the earth among the peoples, as the ^[d]shaking of an olive-tree, as the gleanings when the vintage is done.

¹⁴ These shall lift up their voice, they shall shout; for the majesty of Jehovah they cry aloud from the sea. ¹⁵ Wherefore glorify ye Jehovah in the ^[e]east, even the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel, in the ^[f]isles of the sea. ¹⁶ From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs: Glory to the righteous.

But I said, ^[g]I pine away, I pine away, woe is me! the treacherous have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous have dealt very treacherously.

4 Finally then, brethren, we beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that, as ye received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, even as ye do walk,—that ye abound more and more. ² For ye know what ^[a]charge we gave you through the Lord Jesus. ³ For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye abstain from fornication; ⁴ that each one of you know how to possess himself of his own vessel in sanctification and honor, ⁵ not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who know not God; ⁶ that no man ^[b]transgress, and wrong his brother in the matter: because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we ^[c]forewarned you and testified. ⁷ For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification. ⁸ Therefore he that rejecteth, rejecteth not man, but God, who giveth his Holy Spirit unto you.

⁹ But concerning love of the brethren ye have no need that one write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another; ¹⁰ for indeed ye do it toward all the brethren that are in all Macedonia. But we exhort you, brethren, that ye abound more and more; ¹¹ and that ye ^[d]study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your hands, even as we charged you; ¹² that ye may walk becomingly toward them that are without, and may have need of nothing.