Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 150

¹ Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in the heavens of His power!

² Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to the abundance of His greatness!^(A)

³ Praise Him with trumpet sound; praise Him with lute and harp!

⁴ Praise Him with tambourine and [single or group] dance; praise Him with stringed and wind instruments or flutes!

⁵ Praise Him with resounding cymbals; praise Him with loud clashing cymbals!

⁶ Let everything that has breath and every breath of life praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)

30 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

² Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book.

³ For, note well, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will release from captivity My people Israel and Judah, says the Lord, and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they will possess it.

⁴ And these are the words the Lord spoke concerning Israel and Judah:

⁵ Thus says the Lord: We have heard a voice of trembling and panic—of terror, and not peace.

⁶ Ask now and see whether a man can give birth to a child? Why then do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor? Why are all faces turned pale?

⁷ Alas! for that day will be great, so that none will be like it; it will be the time of Jacob’s [unequaled] trouble, but he will be saved out of it.^(A)

⁸ For it will come to pass in that day, says the Lord of hosts, that I will break [the oppressor’s] yoke from your neck, and I will burst your bonds; and strangers will no more make slaves of [the people of Israel].

⁹ But they will serve the Lord their God and David’s [descendant] their King, Whom I will raise up for them.^(B)

¹⁰ Therefore fear not, O My servant Jacob, says the Lord, nor be dismayed or cast down, O Israel; for behold, I will save you out of a distant land [of exile] and your posterity from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return and will be quiet and at ease, and none will make him afraid or cause him to be terrorized and to tremble.

¹¹ For I am with you, says the Lord, to save you; for I will make a full and complete end of all the nations to which I have scattered you, but I will not make a full and complete end of you. But I will correct you in measure and with judgment and will in no sense hold you guiltless or leave you unpunished.

¹⁰ By this it is made clear who take their nature from God and are His children and who take their nature from the devil and are his children: no one who does not practice righteousness [who does not conform to God’s will in purpose, thought, and action] is of God; neither is anyone who does not love his brother (his fellow ^[a]believer in Christ).

¹¹ For this is the message (the announcement) which you have heard from the first, that we should love one another,

¹² [And] not be like Cain who [took his nature and got his motivation] from the evil one and slew his brother. And why did he slay him? Because his deeds (activities, works) were wicked and malicious and his brother’s were righteous (virtuous).

¹³ Do not be surprised and wonder, brethren, that the world detests and pursues you with hatred.

¹⁴ We know that we have passed over out of death into Life by the fact that we love the brethren (our fellow Christians). He who does not love abides (remains, is ^[b]held and kept continually) in [spiritual] death.

¹⁵ Anyone who hates (abominates, detests) his brother [in Christ] is [at heart] a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding (^[c]persevering) within him.

¹⁶ By this we come to know (progressively to recognize, to perceive, to understand) the [essential] love: that He laid down His [own] life for us; and we ought to lay [our] lives down for [those who are our] brothers [^[d]in Him].