Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 147
Praise Him for Providing for His People
The Creator Restores His People
1 Praise the Lord.[a]
How good it is to make music to our God.
Yes, praise is pleasant and fitting!
2 The one who builds Jerusalem is the Lord.
He assembles the outcasts of Israel.
3 He is the one who heals the brokenhearted
and who bandages their wounds.
4 He counts the number of the stars.
He calls them all by name.
5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power.
To his understanding there is no limit.
6 The one who sustains the humble is the Lord.
He pushes the wicked down to the ground.
The Creator Loves His People
7 Respond to the Lord with thanksgiving.
Make music to our God on the lyre.
8 He is the one who covers the sky with clouds.
He determines rain for the earth.
He makes grass sprout on the mountains.
9 He gives their food to the cattle
and to the young ravens when they call.
10 He is not impressed by the strength of the horse.
He is not pleased with the legs of a man.
11 The Lord is pleased with those who fear him,
those who wait for his mercy.
20 He has not done this for any other nation.
They do not know his judgments.
Praise the Lord.
36 Elihu kept talking and said:
2 Be patient with me a little longer.
I intend to inform you further,
since I have more to say on God’s behalf.
3 I will provide you with comprehensive knowledge,
and I will justify my Maker.
4 You can be sure that none of my words are false.
A man with complete knowledge is here with you.
5 Yes, God is mighty, but he does not despise people.
He is mighty and has great understanding.[a]
6 He does not keep a wicked man alive,
but he does give justice to the oppressed.
7 He does not turn his eyes away from the righteous.
He seats them on thrones with kings
and exalts them forever.
8 But if people are bound in chains,
and they are held captive by cords of affliction,
9 he declares to them what they have done—
how arrogantly they have committed rebellious deeds.
10 He opens their ears to accept discipline,[b]
and he tells them to turn back from wickedness.
11 If they listen and serve him,
they will complete their days in prosperity,
and their years will end in pleasure.
12 But if they do not listen,
they will be overwhelmed by a stream.[c]
They will breathe their last without knowledge.
13 Godless hearts nourish anger.
They do not cry out for help even when he imprisons them.
14 Their souls die while they are still young,
and they end their lives among the male prostitutes at their shrines.
15 God delivers the afflicted by means of their affliction,
and he gets their attention through their suffering.
16 Certainly he is drawing you out of the jaws of distress
to a wide-open place, where you will not be hemmed in.
You will be comfortable at your table covered with rich food.
17 But now you are caught up with the judgment of the wicked,
and judgment and justice have taken hold of you.
18 Watch out, so that no one lures you with luxury.
Do not let a large payment turn you aside.
19 Can your affluence arrange for your security,
so that you do not suffer want?
Can even your strongest efforts accomplish that?
20 Do not long for night time, when nations vanish from their place.[d]
21 Watch out. Do not turn to evil,
because that is why you have been tested by affliction.[e]
22 Listen to me. God is exalted in his power.
Who is a teacher like him?
23 Who has dictated his way for him?
Who has said, “You have done wrong”?
What Paul Does With His Rights and Freedom
9 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus, our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? 2 If I am not an apostle to others, yet at least I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3 This is my defense to those who examine me. 4 Do we not have a right to eat and to drink? 5 Do we not have a right to take along a wife who is a believer, as the rest of the apostles do, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?[a] 6 Or are Barnabas and I the only ones who have no right to be spared from manual labor? 7 What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat some of its fruit? Or who takes care of a flock and does not drink milk from the flock? 8 Am I saying this just from a human point of view? Doesn’t the law also say this? 9 Yes, it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out grain.”[b] Is God really concerned about oxen, 10 or does he say this entirely for our sake? Yes, it was written for our sake, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher ought to thresh in hope of getting a share. 11 If we sowed spiritual seed for your good, is it too much if we reap material benefits from you? 12 If others have some right to make this claim on you, don’t we even more? But we did not use this right. Instead, we endure everything so as not to cause any hindrance for the gospel of Christ.
13 Do you not know that those who do the work in the temple eat food from the temple, and those who attend to the altar receive a portion from what is on the altar? 14 In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel are to receive their living from the gospel. 15 But I have used none of these things.
I am not writing this to have it done this way in my case, because it is better for me to die than to let anyone deprive me of my boast. 16 You see, if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast about, because an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.