Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

²³ People of Zion, shout with joy
    and happiness in the Eternal, your God;
The drought is over; He has sent the early autumn rain as a sign of His faithfulness.
    He has poured down heavy rain, autumn and spring, as before.
²⁴ The threshing floors will be covered in grain;
    the vats will spill over with new wine and fresh oil.

²⁵ Eternal One: I will compensate you for the years
        that the locusts have eaten—the swarming locusts,
    The creeping locusts, the stripping locusts, and the cutting locusts—^[a]
        My great army that I unleashed against you.

²⁶     In that day, you will eat plenty of food and always have enough,
        so you will praise My name,
    The Eternal One, your God who is merciful to you.
        Never again will My people be shamed among the nations.
²⁷     Return to Me and you will know that I live among My people Israel
        and that I, the Eternal One, am your God and there is no other.
    Never again will My people be shamed among the nations.

²⁸     Then in those days I will pour My Spirit to all humanity;
        your children will boldly and prophetically speak the word of God.
    Your elders will dream dreams;
        your young warriors will see visions.
²⁹     No one will be left out. In those days I will offer My spirit
        to all servants, both male and female.

³⁰     In the heaven above and on the earth below,
        I will give signs of My intervention: blood, fire, and clouds of smoke.
³¹     The sun will become a void of darkness, and the moon will become blood
        just before the great and dreadful day of the Eternal One arrives.

³² Then everyone who calls on the name of the Eternal One will be liberated.^[b]
    Mount Zion and Jerusalem will shelter those who survive exile,
Just as the Eternal says, “Among those who survived, He will call them.”

⁵ You leave us breathless when Your awesome works answer us by putting everything right.
    God of our liberation—
You are the hope of all creation, from the far corners of the earth
    to distant life-giving oceans.
⁶ With immense power, You erected mountains.
    Wrapped in strength, You compelled
⁷ Choppy seas,
    crashing waves,
    and crowds of people
To sit in astonished silence.
⁸ Those who inhabit the boundaries of the earth are awed by Your signs,
    strong and subtle hints of Your indelible presence.
Even the dawn and dusk respond to You with joy.

⁹ You spend time on the good earth,
    watering and nourishing the networks of the living.
God’s river is full of water!
    By preparing the land,
    You have provided us grain for nourishment.
¹⁰ You are the gentle equalizer: soaking the furrows,
    smoothing soil’s ridges,
Softening sun-baked earth with generous showers,
    blessing the fruit of the ground.
¹¹ You crown the year with a fruitful harvest;
    the paths are worn down by carts overflowing with unstoppable growth.
¹² Barren desert pastures yield fruit;
    craggy hills are now dressed for celebration.
¹³ Meadows are clothed with frolicking flocks of lambs;
    valleys are covered with a carpet of autumn-harvest grain;
    the land shouts and sings in joyous celebration.