Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 87
A Psalm of the sons of Korah. A Song.
1 The city of His foundation is on the holy mountain.
2 The Lord loves the gates of Zion
more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.
3 Glorious things are spoken of you,
O city of God. Selah.
4 I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon
to those who know Me;
look, Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia;
“This man was born there.”
5 But of Zion it shall be said,
“This one and that one were born in her,”
for the Most High shall make her secure.
6 The Lord shall count when He registers the people,
“This one was born there.” Selah
7 As well the singers and the players of instruments say,
“All my springs are in you.”
Judging the Nations
3 In those days and at that time,
when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 I will gather all the nations,
and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
I will enter into judgment with them there
regarding My people and My heritage Israel,
whom they have scattered among the nations;
they have also divided up My land.
3 They have cast lots for My people,
and have traded a boy for a prostitute;
they have sold a girl for wine,
that they might drink.
4 Also, what are you to Me, Tyre and Sidon and all the regions of Philistia? Are you repaying Me for something? If you are repaying Me, I will return your payment swiftly and speedily on your head. 5 For you have taken My silver and My gold, and you have carried off My finest treasures to your temples. 6 You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their border.
7 I am about to rouse them from the place to which you have sold them, and I will return your payment on your head. 8 I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans—to a distant nation, for the Lord has spoken.
Suffering as a Christian
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though some strange thing happened to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share in Christ’s sufferings, so that you may rejoice and be glad also in the revelation of His glory. 14 If you are reproached because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. 15 Let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evildoer, or even as a busybody. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God because of it. 17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God, and if it begins first with us, what shall the end be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And
“If the righteous one is scarcely saved,
where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”[a]
19 So then, let those who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator, while continuing to do good.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.