Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

12 On that day you will say, “Praise the Lord! He was angry with me, but now he comforts me. ² See, God has come to save me! I will trust and not be afraid, for the Lord is my strength and song; he is my salvation. ³ Oh, the joy of drinking deeply from the Fountain of Salvation!”

⁴ In that wonderful day you will say, “Thank the Lord! Praise his name! Tell the world about his wondrous love.^[a] How mighty he is!” ⁵ Sing to the Lord, for he has done wonderful things. Make known his praise around the world. ⁶ Let all the people of Jerusalem shout his praise with joy. For great and mighty is the Holy One of Israel, who lives among you.

59 Listen now! The Lord isn’t too weak to save you. And he isn’t getting deaf! He can hear you when you call! ² But the trouble is that your sins have cut you off from God. Because of sin he has turned his face away from you and will not listen anymore. ³ For your hands are those of murderers and your fingers are filthy with sin. You lie and grumble and oppose the good. ⁴ No one cares about being fair and true. Your lawsuits are based on lies; you spend your time plotting evil deeds and doing them. ⁵ You spend your time and energy in spinning evil plans that end up in deadly actions. ⁶ You cheat and shortchange everyone. Everything you do is filled with sin; violence is your trademark. ⁷ Your feet run to do evil and rush to murder; your thoughts are only of sinning, and wherever you go you leave behind a trail of misery and death. ⁸ You don’t know what true peace is, nor what it means to be just and good; you continually do wrong and those who follow you won’t experience any peace either.

⁹ It is because of all this evil that you aren’t finding God’s blessings; that’s why he doesn’t punish those who injure you. No wonder you are in darkness when you expected light. No wonder you are walking in the gloom. ¹⁰ No wonder you grope like blind men and stumble along in broad daylight, yes, even at brightest noontime, as though it were the darkest night! No wonder you are like corpses when compared with vigorous young men! ¹¹ You roar like hungry bears; you moan with mournful cries like doves. You look for God to keep you, but he doesn’t. He has turned away. ¹² For your sins keep piling up before the righteous God and testify against you.

Yes, we know what sinners we are. ¹³ We know our disobedience; we have denied the Lord our God. We know what rebels we are and how unfair we are, for we carefully plan our lies. ¹⁴ Our courts oppose the righteous man; fairness is unknown. Truth falls dead in the streets, and justice is outlawed.

¹⁵ Yes, truth is gone, and anyone who tries a better life is soon attacked. The Lord saw all the evil and was displeased to find no steps taken against sin.

³ Dear brothers, giving thanks to God for you is not only the right thing to do, but it is our duty to God because of the really wonderful way your faith has grown and because of your growing love for each other. ⁴ We are happy to tell other churches about your patience and complete faith in God, in spite of all the crushing troubles and hardships you are going through.

⁵ This is only one example of the fair, just way God does things, for he is using your sufferings to make you ready for his Kingdom, ⁶ while at the same time he is preparing judgment and punishment for those who are hurting you.

⁷ And so I would say to you who are suffering, God will give you rest along with us when the Lord Jesus appears suddenly from heaven in flaming fire with his mighty angels, ⁸ bringing judgment on those who do not wish to know God and who refuse to accept his plan to save them through our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ They will be punished in everlasting hell, forever separated from the Lord, never to see the glory of his power ¹⁰ when he comes to receive praise and admiration because of all he has done for his people, his saints. And you will be among those praising him because you have believed what we told you about him.

¹¹ And so we keep on praying for you, that our God will make you the kind of children he wants to have—will make you as good as you wish you could be!—rewarding your faith with his power. ¹² Then everyone will be praising the name of the Lord Jesus Christ because of the results they see in you; and your greatest glory will be that you belong to him. The tender mercy of our God and of the Lord Jesus Christ has made all this possible for you.