Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

² See, God saves me. I will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord God is my strength and song. And He has become the One Who saves me.” ³ As water from a well brings joy to the thirsty, so people have joy when He saves them. ⁴ In that day you will say, “Give thanks to the Lord. Call on His name. Make known His works among the people. Help them remember that His name is honored.” ⁵ Sing praises to the Lord, for He has done great things. Let this be known in all the earth. ⁶ Call out and sing for joy, O people of Zion. For the Holy One of Israel is great among you.

Israel to Be Destroyed

6 It is bad for those who are taking it easy in Zion, and for those who feel safe on the mountain of Samaria, you great men of the most important nation, to whom the people of Israel come! ² Go over to Calneh and look. And go from there to great Hamath. Then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are they better than these nations? Is their land better than yours? ³ You put off the day of trouble, and bring near the seat of anger.

⁴ How bad it will be for you who lie on beds of ivory and spread out upon your long seats! You eat lambs from the flock and calves from the cattle-house. ⁵ You sing songs to the sound of the harp. Like David you write songs for yourselves. ⁶ You drink wine from the holy dishes, and pour the best oil on yourselves. Yet you are not filled with sorrow because Joseph has been destroyed! ⁷ You will be among the first to be taken away as prisoners to a strange land, and your happy times of rest will pass away.

⁸ The Lord God has promised by Himself. The Lord God of All has said, “I hate the pride of Jacob, and I hate his strong-places, so I will give up the city and everything in it.”

The Christian Way to Give

8 Christian brothers, we want you to know how the loving-favor of God has been shown in the churches in the country of Macedonia. ² They have been put to the test by much trouble, but they have much joy. They have given much even though they were very poor. ³ They gave as much as they could because they wanted to. ⁴ They asked from their hearts if they could help the Christians in Jerusalem. ⁵ It was more than we expected. They gave themselves to the Lord first. Then they gave themselves to us to be used as the Lord wanted. ⁶ We asked Titus to keep on helping you finish this act of love. He was the one to begin this. ⁷ You are rich in everything. You have faith. You can preach. You have much learning. You have a strong desire to help. And you have love for us. Now do what you should about giving also. ⁸ I am not saying that you must do this, but I have told you how others have helped. This is a way to prove how true your love is. ⁹ You know of the loving-favor shown by our Lord Jesus Christ. He was rich, but He became poor for your good. In that way, because He became poor, you might become rich.

¹⁰ This is what I think. You had better finish what you started a year ago. You were the first to want to give a gift of money. ¹¹ Now do it with the same strong desires you had when you started. ¹² If a man is ready and willing to give, he should give of what he has, not of what he does not have. ¹³ This does not mean that others do not have to give and you have to give much. You should share alike. ¹⁴ You have more than you need now. When you have need, then they can help you. You should share alike. ¹⁵ The Holy Writings say, “The man who gathered much did not have too much. The man who did not gather much had enough.” ^(A)