Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 87
The Glorious City
Heading
By the Sons of Korah. A psalm. A song.
The Holy City
1 The city he founded is on the holy mountains.
2 The Lord loves the gates of Zion
more than all the other dwellings of Jacob. Interlude
3 Glorious things are spoken about you, O City of God.
Its Citizens
4 I will register Rahab[a] and Babylon among those who know me.
Look! Philistia and Tyre are there, along with Cush!
Of them I say, “This one was born there in Zion.”[b]
5 And about Zion it will be said,
“This one and that one were born in her,
and the Most High himself will establish her.”
6 When he registers the peoples,
the Lord will write: Interlude
“This one was born there.”
7 Then the singers, as they dance, will sing,
“All my springs are in you.”
The Promise of Judgment Against the Nations
2 I will gather all nations
and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.[c]
There I will enter into judgment against them
for the sake of my possession, my people Israel,
whom they scattered among the nations.
The nations also divided up my land.
3 They cast lots for my people
and traded boys to pay prostitutes.
They sold girls for wine so that they could drink.
4 Tell me, what do you have against me,
Tyre and Sidon, and all you regions of Philistia?
Are you repaying me for something I have done?
If you are paying me back,
I will swiftly and speedily repay onto your own heads what you have done,
5 because you took my silver and my gold,
and you carried off my best treasures to your temples.
6 You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks,
in order to send them far from their own borders.
7 See, I am going to rouse them out of the places to which you sold them,
and I will make what you have done return on your own heads.
8 I will sell your sons and daughters into the hands of the people of Judah,
and they will sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far away.[d]
Yes, the Lord has spoken.
Sharing in the Sufferings of Christ
12 Dear friends, do not be surprised by the fiery trial that is happening among you to test you, as if something strange were happening to you. 13 Instead rejoice whenever you are sharing in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
14 If you are insulted in connection with the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory[a] and of God rests on you.[b] 15 Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or as a meddler. 16 But if you suffer for being a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God in connection with this name.[c] 17 For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God. Now if it begins with us, what will be the end for those who disobey the gospel of God? 18 And if it is hard for the righteous to be saved, where will the ungodly sinner end up? 19 So let those who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to their faithful Creator while doing what is good.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.