Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 21
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David.
1 The king will rejoice in Your strength, O Lord,
and in Your salvation how greatly will he rejoice!
2 You have given him his heart’s desire,
and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah
3 For You meet him with the blessings of goodness;
You set a crown of pure gold on his head.
4 He asked life of You, and You gave it him,
length of days forever and ever.
5 His glory is great in Your salvation;
honor and majesty You set on him.
6 For You place blessings on him forever;
You make him rejoice with gladness with Your presence.
7 For the king trusts in the Lord,
and by the lovingkindness of the Most High
he will not be moved.
8 Your hand will find out all Your enemies;
Your right hand will find out those who hate You.
9 You will make them as a fiery oven
in the time of Your appearance;
the Lord will swallow them up in His wrath,
and fire will devour them.
10 You will destroy their offspring from the earth,
and their descendants from among the children of men.
11 For they intended evil against You;
they devised evil thoughts they will not be able to accomplish.
12 For You will make them turn their back,
when You aim with Your bowstrings against their face.
13 Be exalted, Lord, by Your strength;
may we sing and make music to Your might.
Judgment on the Earth
24 Now the Lord makes the earth empty,
and makes it waste,
and turns it upside down,
and scatters its inhabitants abroad.
2 It shall be:
as with the people, so with the priest;
as with the servant, so with his master;
as with the maid, so with her mistress;
as with the buyer, so with the seller;
as with the lender, so with the borrower;
as with the creditor, so with the debtor.
3 The land shall be utterly emptied,
and utterly despoiled,
for the Lord has spoken this word.
4 The earth mourns and fades away,
the world languishes and fades away,
the haughty people of the earth languish.
5 The earth also is defiled by its inhabitants
because they have transgressed the laws,
violated the ordinances,
broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore, the curse devours the earth,
and those who dwell in it are held guilty.
Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned,
and few men are left.
7 The new wine fails, the vine languishes,
all the merry-hearted sigh.
8 The joy of tambourines ceases,
the noise of those who rejoice ends,
the joy of the harp ceases.
9 They shall not drink wine with song;
strong drink shall be bitter to those who drink it.
10 The city of confusion is broken down;
every house is shut up so that no one may come in.
11 There is an outcry for wine in the streets,
all joy is turned to gloom,
the joyfulness of the earth is gone.
12 Desolation is left in the city,
and the gate is battered to destruction.
13 For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth
among the peoples,
as the shaking of an olive tree,
and as the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done.
14 They lift up their voices; they sing for the majesty of the Lord;
they cry aloud from the west.
15 Therefore glorify the Lord in the east,
even the name of the Lord God of Israel
in the coastlands of the sea.
16 From the uttermost part of the earth we hear songs,
that is, “Glory to the Righteous One.”
But I say, Woe to me! Woe to me!
Alas for me!
The treacherous deal treacherously;
indeed, the treacherous deal very treacherously.
A Life Pleasing to God
4 Finally, brothers, we urge and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as you have learned from us how you ought to walk and to please God, you should excel more and more. 2 For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality, 4 that each one of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in the lust of depravity, even as the Gentiles who do not know God, 6 and that no man take advantage of and defraud his brother in any matter, because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, as we also have forewarned you and testified. 7 For God has not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness. 8 Therefore he that despises does not despise man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.
9 As concerning brotherly love, you do not need me to write to you. For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. 10 And indeed, you do have love for all the brothers who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, that you increase more and more. 11 Learn to be calm, and to conduct your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, 12 so that you may walk honestly toward those who are outsiders and that you may lack nothing.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.