Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
2 God is the one who saves me;
I will trust him and not be afraid.
The Lord, the Lord gives me strength and makes me sing.
He has saved me.”
3 You will receive your salvation with joy
as you would draw water from a well.
4 At that time you will say,
“Praise the Lord and worship him.
Tell everyone what he has done
and how great he is.
5 Sing praise to the Lord, because he has done great things.
Let all the world know what he has done.
6 Shout and sing for joy, you people of Jerusalem,
because the Holy One of Israel does great things before your eyes.”
Israel Will Be Destroyed
6 How terrible it will be for those who have an easy life in Jerusalem,
for those who feel safe living on Mount Samaria.
You think you are the important people of the best nation in the world;
the Israelites come to you for help.
2 Go look at the city of Calneh,
and from there go to the great city Hamath;
then go down to Gath of the Philistines.
You are no better than these kingdoms.
Your land is no larger than theirs.
3 You put off the day of punishment,
but you bring near the day when you can do evil to others.
4 You lie on beds decorated with ivory
and stretch out on your couches.
You eat tender lambs
and fattened calves.
5 You make up songs on your harps,
and, like David, you compose songs on musical instruments.
6 You drink wine by the bowlful
and use the best perfumed lotions.
But you are not sad over the ruin of Israel,
7 so you will be some of the first ones taken as slaves.
Your feasting and lying around will come to an end.
8 The Lord God made this promise; the Lord God All-Powerful says:
“I hate the pride of the Israelites,
and I hate their strong buildings,
so I will let the enemy take the city
and everything in it.”
Christian Giving
8 And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace God gave the churches in Macedonia. 2 They have been tested by great troubles, and they are very poor. But they gave much because of their great joy. 3 I can tell you that they gave as much as they were able and even more than they could afford. No one told them to do it. 4 But they begged and pleaded with us to let them share in this service for God’s people. 5 And they gave in a way we did not expect: They first gave themselves to the Lord and to us. This is what God wants. 6 So we asked Titus to help you finish this special work of grace since he is the one who started it. 7 You are rich in everything—in faith, in speaking, in knowledge, in truly wanting to help, and in the love you learned from us.[a] In the same way, be strong also in the grace of giving.
8 I am not commanding you to give. But I want to see if your love is true by comparing you with others that really want to help. 9 You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know that Christ was rich, but for you he became poor so that by his becoming poor you might become rich.
10 This is what I think you should do: Last year you were the first to want to give, and you were the first who gave. 11 So now finish the work you started. Then your “doing” will be equal to your “wanting to do.” Give from what you have. 12 If you want to give, your gift will be accepted. It will be judged by what you have, not by what you do not have. 13 We do not want you to have troubles while other people are at ease, but we want everything to be equal. 14 At this time you have plenty. What you have can help others who are in need. Then later, when they have plenty, they can help you when you are in need, and all will be equal. 15 As it is written in the Scriptures, “The person who gathered more did not have too much, nor did the person who gathered less have too little.”[b]
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.