Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Hymns of Praise
12 And in that day you shall say:
O Lord, I will praise You;
though You were angry with me,
Your anger has turned away,
and You comforted me.
2 Certainly God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid;
for the Lord God is my strength and my song;
He also has become my salvation.
3 Therefore with joy you shall draw water
out of the wells of salvation.
4 In that day you shall say:
Praise the Lord, call upon His name,
declare His deeds among the peoples,
make them remember that His name is exalted.
5 Sing to the Lord, for He has done excellent things;
let this be known in all the earth.
6 Cry out and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion.
For great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst.
15 Truth is lacking,
and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
The Redeemer of Zion
Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him
that there was no justice.
16 He saw that there was no man
and was astonished that there was no intercessor;
therefore, His own arm brought salvation to Him,
and His righteousness sustained Him.
17 For He put on righteousness as a breastplate
and a helmet of salvation on His head;
He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing
and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
18 According to their deeds,
accordingly He will repay:
fury to His adversaries,
recompense to His enemies;
to the islands He will make recompense.
19 So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west
and His glory from the rising of the sun;
when the enemy shall come in like a flood,
the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.
20 The Redeemer shall come to Zion
and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,
says the Lord.
21 As for Me, this is My covenant with them, says the Lord: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your descendants, nor out of the mouth of your descendants’ descendants, says the Lord, from this time forth and forever.
The Coming of the Kingdom(A)
20 When He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation. 21 Nor will they say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For remember, the kingdom of God is within you.”
22 Then He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. 23 They will say to you, ‘Look here,’ or ‘Look there!’ Do not follow after them. 24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the heavens from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in His day. 25 But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
26 “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating, drinking, marrying, and were given in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 “Likewise as it was in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built. 29 But on the day that Lot departed from Sodom, fire and brimstone rained from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 “So will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day let him who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away. And likewise let him who is in the field not return to the things behind. 32 Remember Lot’s wife. 33 Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, on that night two men will be in one bed; the one will be taken and the other will be left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; the one will be taken and the other will be left. 36 Two men will be in the field; the one will be taken and the other will be left.”
37 They asked, “Where, Lord?”
He replied, “Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.