Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 48[a]
The Splendor of the Invincible City
1 A psalm of the Korahites.[b] A song.
I
2 Great is the Lord and highly praised
in the city of our God:(A)
His holy mountain,
3 fairest of heights,
the joy of all the earth,(B)
Mount Zion, the heights of Zaphon,[c](C)
the city of the great king.
II
4 God is in its citadel,
renowned as a stronghold.
5 See! The kings assembled,
together they advanced.
6 [d]When they looked they were astounded;
terrified, they were put to flight!(D)
7 Trembling seized them there,
anguish, like a woman’s labor,(E)
8 As when the east wind wrecks
the ships of Tarshish![e]
III
9 [f]What we had heard we have now seen
in the city of the Lord of hosts,
In the city of our God,
which God establishes forever.
Selah
10 We ponder, O God, your mercy
within your temple
11 Like your name, O God,
so is your praise to the ends of the earth.(F)
Your right hand is fully victorious.
12 Mount Zion is glad!
The daughters of Judah rejoice
because of your judgments!(G)
IV
Restoration for the Exiles. 14 The word of the Lord came to me: 15 [a]Son of man, the inhabitants of Jerusalem are saying about all your relatives, the other exiles, and all the house of Israel, “They are far away from the Lord. The land is given to us as a possession.”(A) 16 Therefore say: Thus says the Lord God: I have indeed sent them far away among the nations, scattered them over the lands, and have been but little sanctuary for them in the lands to which they have gone. 17 Therefore, thus says the Lord God, I will gather you from the nations and collect you from the lands through which you were scattered, so I can give you the land of Israel.(B) 18 They will enter it and remove all its atrocities and abominations. 19 (C)And I will give them another heart and a new spirit I will put within them. From their bodies I will remove the hearts of stone, and give them hearts of flesh, 20 so that they walk according to my statutes, taking care to keep my ordinances. Thus they will be my people, and I will be their God.(D) 21 But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their atrocities and abominations, I will bring their conduct down upon their heads—oracle of the Lord God.
22 Then the cherubim lifted their wings and the wheels alongside them, with the glory of the God of Israel above them.(E) 23 [b]The glory of the Lord rose up from the middle of the city and came to rest on the mountain east of the city.(F) 24 In a vision, the spirit lifted me up and brought me back to the exiles in Chaldea, by the spirit of God. The vision I had seen left me,(G) 25 and I told the exiles everything the Lord had shown me.(H)
12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we speak about them not with words taught by human wisdom, but with words taught by the Spirit, describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms.[a]
14 Now the natural person[b] does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God, for to him it is foolishness, and he cannot understand it, because it is judged spiritually. 15 The spiritual person, however, can judge everything but is not subject to judgment[c] by anyone.
16 For “who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to counsel him?” But we have the mind of Christ.(A)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.