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.”
4 Listen to me, you who walk on helpless people,
you who are trying to destroy the poor people of this country, saying,
5 “When will the New Moon festival be over
so we can sell grain?
When will the Sabbath be over
so we can bring out wheat to sell?
We can charge them more
and give them less,
and we can change the scales to cheat the people.
6 We will buy poor people for silver,
and needy people for the price of a pair of sandals.
We will even sell the wheat that was swept up from the floor.”
7 The Lord has sworn by his name, the Pride of Jacob, “I will never forget everything that these people did.
8 The whole land will shake because of it,
and everyone who lives in the land will cry for those who died.
The whole land will rise like the Nile;
it will be shaken, and then it will fall
like the Nile River in Egypt.”
9 The Lord God says:
“At that time I will cause the sun to go down at noon
and make the earth dark on a bright day.
10 I will change your festivals into days of crying for the dead,
and all your songs will become songs of sadness.
I will make all of you wear rough cloth to show your sadness;
I will make you shave your heads as well.
I will make it like a time of crying for the death of an only son,
and its end like the end of an awful day.”
11 The Lord God says: “The days are coming
when I will cause a time of hunger in the land.
The people will not be hungry for bread or thirsty for water,
but they will be hungry for words from the Lord.
12 They will wander from the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea,
from the north to the east.
They will search for the word of the Lord,
but they won’t find it.
Help for Fellow Christians
9 I really do not need to write you about this help for God’s people. 2 I know you want to help. I have been bragging about this to the people in Macedonia, telling them that you in Southern Greece have been ready to give since last year. And your desire to give has made most of them ready to give also. 3 But I am sending the brothers to you so that our bragging about you in this will not be empty words. I want you to be ready, as I said you would be. 4 If any of the people from Macedonia come with me and find that you are not ready, we will be ashamed that we were so sure of you. (And you will be ashamed, too!) 5 So I thought I should ask these brothers to go to you before we do. They will finish getting in order the generous gift you promised so it will be ready when we come. And it will be a generous gift—not one that you did not want to give.
6 Remember this: The person who plants a little will have a small harvest, but the person who plants a lot will have a big harvest. 7 Each of you should give as you have decided in your heart to give. You should not be sad when you give, and you should not give because you feel forced to give. God loves the person who gives happily. 8 And God can give you more blessings than you need. Then you will always have plenty of everything—enough to give to every good work. 9 It is written in the Scriptures:
“He gives freely to the poor.
The things he does are right and will continue forever.” Psalm 112:9
10 God is the One who gives seed to the farmer and bread for food. He will give you all the seed you need and make it grow so there will be a great harvest from your goodness. 11 He will make you rich in every way so that you can always give freely. And your giving through us will cause many to give thanks to God. 12 This service you do not only helps the needs of God’s people, it also brings many more thanks to God. 13 It is a proof of your faith. Many people will praise God because you obey the Good News of Christ—the gospel you say you believe—and because you freely share with them and with all others. 14 And when they pray, they will wish they could be with you because of the great grace that God has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his gift that is too wonderful for words.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.