Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A psalm of thanksgiving
Give Thanks to the Lord
100 Shout to the Lord all the earth!
2 Serve the Lord with joy.
Come before him with a joyful shout!
3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God.
He made us and we belong to him;
we are his people
and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise.
Thank him and bless his name,
5 for the Lord is good
and his gracious love stands forever.
His faithfulness remains from generation to generation.
God’s Message to His Sheep
17 “Now as for you, my flock, this is what the Lord God says: ‘Watch out! I’m going to judge between one sheep and another, and between the rams and the goats. 18 Is it such an insignificant thing to you that you’re feeding in good pastures but trampling down the other pastures with your feet? Or that as you’re drinking from the clear streams you’re muddying the rest with your feet? 19 My flock is grazing on what you’ve been treading down with your feet and they’re drinking what you’ve been making muddy with your feet!’
20 “Therefore this is what the Lord God says to them: ‘Watch me! I’m going to judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep, 21 since you’ve been bumping aside all the weaker sheep with your backsides and shoulders, butting them with your horns until they’re scattered around outside. 22 That’s how I’ll save my sheep so they won’t be plundered any longer. I’m going to judge between one sheep and another.’”
God’s Shepherd: His Servant David
23 “‘Then I’ll install one shepherd for them—my servant David—and he will feed them, will be there for them, and will serve as their shepherd.
Be Shepherds of God’s Flock
5 Therefore, as a fellow elder, a witness of the Messiah’s[a] sufferings, and one who shares in the glory to be revealed, I appeal to the elders among you: 2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over it, not because you must but because you want to, and not greedily but eagerly, as God desires. 3 Do not lord it over the people entrusted to you, but be examples to the flock. 4 Then, when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the victor’s crown of glory that will never fade away.
Be Humble and Alert
5 In a similar way, you young people must submit to the elders.[b] All of you must clothe yourselves with humility for the sake of each other, because:
“God opposes the arrogant,
but gives grace to the humble.”[c]
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