Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer for the Nation
For the director of music. A psalm of the sons of Korah [C descendants of Kohath, son of Levi, who served as temple musicians; 1 Chr. 6:22].
85 Lord, you ·have been kind to [delight in] your land;
you ·brought back [restored the fortunes of; C perhaps at the end of the exile] the people of Jacob [C another name for Israel].
2 You forgave the guilt of the people
and covered all their sins. ·
8 I will listen to what God the Lord says.
He has ·ordered [spoken; promised] ·peace [prosperity] for ·those who worship him [L his people, his saints/loyal ones].
Don’t let them go back to foolishness.
9 ·God will soon save those who respect him [L His salvation/victory is near to those who fear him; Prov. 1:7],
and his glory will ·be seen [L dwell] in our land.
10 ·Love [Loyalty] and ·truth [faithfulness] ·belong to God’s people [L meet];
·goodness [righteousness] and ·peace [prosperity] ·will be theirs [L kiss].
11 ·On earth people will be loyal to God [Faithfulness sprouts/blooms from the earth/land],
and ·God’s goodness [righteousness] will ·shine [look] down from heaven.
12 The Lord will give his ·goodness [or good gifts],
and the land will give its crops.
13 ·Goodness [Righteousness] will go before ·God [L him]
and prepare the way for ·him [L his steps].
The People Are Not Faithful
6 “Come, let’s ·go back [return] to the Lord.
He has ·hurt us [torn us to pieces], but he will heal us.
He has wounded us, but he will ·bandage [bind up] our wounds.
2 ·In [After] two days he will ·put new life in [revive; restore] us;
on the third day he will raise us up [C in a short time]
so that we may live in his presence 3 and know him.
Let’s ·try [press on] to ·learn about [know] the Lord;
he will come to us as surely as the dawn comes.
He will come to us ·like rain [or as sure as the winter rains come],
like the ·spring [latter] rain that waters the ·ground [earth].”
4 The Lord says, “·Israel [L Ephraim; 4:17], what should I do with you?
Judah, what should I do with you?
Your faithfulness is like a morning mist,
like the dew that goes away early in the day.
5 I have ·warned you [L cut you into pieces; hewn you] by my prophets
that I will kill you with ·my words [L the words of my mouth].
My ·justice [judgment] comes out like ·bright light [or the morning dawn].
6 I ·want [desire; delight in] ·faithful love [mercy; lovingkindness]
·more than I want animal sacrifices [L and not sacrifice].
I want ·people to know me [the knowledge of God]
more than I want burnt offerings [Lev. 1:1–17].
The Faith of the Thessalonians
2 We always thank God for all of you and mention you when we pray. 3 We continually recall before God our Father ·the things you have done because of your faith [L your work of/from faith], ·the work you have done because of your love [L your labor of/from love] and your ·continuing strength because of your hope [L endurance of/from hope] in our Lord Jesus Christ.
4 Brothers and sisters, God loves you, and we know he has chosen you, 5 because the ·Good News [Gospel] we brought to you came not only with words, but with power, with the Holy Spirit, and with ·sure knowledge that it is true [great conviction]. You know how we lived when we were with you ·in order to help you [for your sake]. 6 And you became ·like us and like [imitators of us and of] the Lord. You ·suffered much [experienced many trials/much persecution], but still you accepted the teaching with the joy that comes from the Holy Spirit. 7 So you became an ·example to [model for] all the believers in Macedonia [C the Roman province in which Thessalonica was located, present-day northern Greece] and Achaia [C present-day southern Greece]. 8 And the Lord’s ·teaching [message; word] ·spread [rang out; sounded forth] from you not only into Macedonia and Achaia, but now your faith in God has ·become known [gone forth] everywhere. So we do not need to say anything about it. 9 ·People everywhere [L For they themselves] are ·telling [reporting; announcing] about the way you ·accepted [welcomed] us when we were there with you. They tell how you ·stopped worshiping idols [L turned to God from idols] to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom God raised from the dead. He is Jesus, who ·saves [rescues; delivers] us from ·God’s angry judgment that is sure to come [L the coming wrath].
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