Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 149
1 Praise the Eternal!
Write new songs; sing them to Him with all your might!
Gather with His faithful followers in joyful praise;
2 Let all of Israel celebrate their Maker, their God, their friend;
let the children of Zion find great joy in their true King.
3 So let the music begin; praise His name—dance and sing
to the rhythm of the tambourine, and to the tune of the harp.
4 For the Eternal is listening, and nothing pleases Him more than His people;
He raises up the poor and endows them with His salvation.
5 Let His faithful followers erupt in praise,
singing triumphantly wherever they are, even as they lie down for sleep in the evening.
6 With the name of God and praise in their mouths,
with a two-edged sword in their hands,
7 Let them take revenge on all nations who deny God.
Let them punish the peoples.
8 Kings and nobles will be locked up,
and their freedom will be bound in iron shackles.
9 This judgment against them, decreed by a holy God, will be carried out.
It’s an honor for all His faithful followers to serve Him.
Praise the Eternal!
9 Eternal One (to Moses): Once again, go visit Pharaoh and give him My message: “The Eternal, God of the Hebrew people, says to you, ‘Release My people, so that they can serve Me. 2 If you refuse to release them and strengthen your grip on them, 3 then the hand of the Eternal will come down hard on you: a terrible disease will afflict all of your livestock in the fields—horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, and sheep. 4 But the Eternal will distinguish between Israel’s livestock and Egypt’s livestock, so that not a single animal that belongs to Israel’s people will die.’” 5 He has already determined the time when this plague will begin, saying: “Tomorrow He will strike the land.”
6 Then the Eternal did exactly as He said and sent this sign on the next day. All of the Egyptians’ livestock began to die, but not a single animal from Israel’s livestock perished. 7 Pharaoh sent investigators to check Israel’s livestock, and they found that not a single one of their animals had died or become sick. But Pharaoh’s heart was still as hard as stone, and he refused to release the people.
11 I have become a fool, but you drove me to it. Why didn’t you stick up for me? I may not be much, but you could have shown me the same respect as you did the other so-called great emissaries.[a] I am not inferior to them in the least. 12 Miracles, wonders, and signs were all performed right before your eyes, proving I am who I say, a true emissary of Jesus. 13 With the exception of not asking you to shoulder the burden of my care, I have treated you no differently from any other churches. Forgive me for wronging you by not charging for my services!
14 Now listen, for the third time I am ready to travel to you, and once again I will not burden you because there’s nothing of yours that I want: the only thing I want is you. You see, it’s not right for children to have to save up for their parents because it’s the parents’ job to care for their children. 15 I would happily spend until I had nothing left if it was for you. But just because I love you more, should you love me less? 16 Because even though you didn’t have to lift a finger for me, lies abound that I deceived you by some clever act. 17 Did I cheat you somehow through one of the coworkers I sent your way? If any of them defrauded you, I’d like to see it. 18 I was the one who insisted Titus come to you with the brother I sent along. Did Titus take advantage of you in some way? Didn’t we work in the same spirit and follow the same direction?
19 I hope you don’t think that all this time we’ve been defending ourselves to you. We come as the voice of the Anointed; God will judge whether all our work has been useful in building you up, beloved. 20 And quite honestly, I am afraid that when I come, we may both be disappointed with what we find; in my fear, my thoughts go from bad to worse—into a drama of friction, rivalry, fevered tempers and fists, selfishness, slander, defamation, pride, and complete chaos. 21 I am worried that when I come to visit that my God will humble me somehow before you, that I will have to grieve over all those who have sinned before and then refused to turn away[b] from their addictions to impure practices, immoral sex, and reckless perversions.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.