Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Consider Zion’s Towers
Psalm 48
1 A song, a psalm of the sons of Korah.
2 Great is Adonai, and greatly to be praised
in the city of our God—His holy mountain.
3 A beautiful height—the joy of the whole earth—
is Mount Zion, on the northern side of the city of the great King.[a]
4 God, in her palaces,
is known as a stronghold.
5 For behold, the kings assembled,
they advanced together.
6 They saw, then they were astounded,
they fled in terror.
7 Trembling seized them there,
pain like a woman in labor.
8 With an east wind
You broke the ships of Tarshish.
9 As we have heard, so have we seen,
in the city of Adonai-Tzva’ot,
in the city of our God.
God will establish her forever. Selah
10 We have meditated on Your lovingkindness, O God,
in the midst of Your Temple.
11 Like Your Name, O God,
so is Your praise
to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is full of righteousness.
12 Mount Zion is glad,
the daughters of Judah rejoice,
because of Your judgments.
13 Walk about Zion, go around her.
Count her towers.
14 Consider her ramparts,
go through her palaces,
so you may describe it to the next generation.
15 For this God is our God, forever and ever!
He will guide us to the end.
18 Adonai will be zealous for His land,
and have compassion on His people.
19 Adonai will answer and say to His people:
“Behold, I will send you the grain,
the new wine, and the fresh oil,
and you will be satisfied with it.
I will no longer make you a mockery among the nations.
20 “But I will remove the northern invader far from you—
yes, I will banish him to a dry and desolate land—
his vanguard into the Eastern Sea
and his rearguard into the Western Sea.
His odor will go up—
Yes, his stench will rise.”
For He[a] has done great things!
Rain and Restoration
21 Do not fear, O land. Be glad! Rejoice!
For Adonai has done great things.
22 Do not be afraid, beasts of the field,
for the desert pastures have sprouted,
for the tree bears its fruit.
Fig tree and vine yield their strength.
23 So be glad, children of Zion,
and rejoice in Adonai, your God.
For He gives you the early rain[b] for prosperity,
Yes, He will bring down rain for you,
the early and latter rain as before.
24 The threshing floors will be full of grain
and the vats will overflow with new wine and fresh oil.
25 “I shall restore to you the years
that the locust, the swarming locust,
the canker-worm and the caterpillar have eaten—
My great army that I sent among you.”
26 “You will surely eat and be satisfied,
and praise the Name of Adonai your God,
who has dealt wondrously with you.
Never again will My people be shamed
27 You will know that I am within Israel.
Yes, I am Adonai your God—there is no other—
Never again will My people be shamed.”
Wisdom that Rests on God’s Power
2 When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come with excellence of speech or wisdom, proclaiming to you the mystery[a] of God. 2 For I decided not to know about anything among you except Yeshua the Messiah—and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power— 5 so that your faith would not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
6 We do speak wisdom, however, among those who are mature—but not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 Rather, we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery—a wisdom that has been hidden, which God destined for our glory before the ages. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it—for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written,
“Things no eye has seen
and no ear has heard,
that have not entered the heart of mankind—
these things God has prepared
for those who love Him.”[b]
10 But God revealed these things to us through the Ruach.[c] For the Ruach searches all things—even the depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the things of a man, except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the things of God except the Ruach Elohim.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.