Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 80
Hear, O Shepherd of Israel
Heading
For the choir director. To “Lilies.”[a] A Testimony.[b] By Asaph. A psalm.
Opening Plea
1 O Shepherd of Israel, give ear,
you who lead Joseph like a flock.
You who are seated above the cherubim, shine forth.
2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,
stir up your might.
Come with salvation for us.
Refrain
3 God, restore us, and make your face shine,
so we will be saved.
The Problem
4 Lord God of Armies, how long will your anger smoke
against the prayer of your people?
5 You make them eat bread with tears,
and you make them drink tears by the quart.[c]
6 You create strife between us and our neighbors,
so our enemies join together in mocking us.
Refrain
7 God of Armies, restore us, and make your face shine,
so we will be saved.
17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand,
on the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself.[a]
18 Then we will not turn away from you.
Cause us to live, and we will call on your name.
Refrain
19 Lord God of Armies, restore us, and make your face shine,
so we will be saved.
Jerusalem Will Be Plundered
14 Listen! A day is coming for the Lord, when the plunder taken from you will be divided in your presence.
2 I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem, and the city will be taken, the houses plundered, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.
The Lord Will Be King Over All the Earth
3 Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle. 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. The Mount of Olives will be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and the other half toward the south. 5 You will flee through my mountain valley, because the mountain valley will reach to Azal. Yes, you will flee, just as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones will come with him.[a]
6 On that day there will be no light. The light sources will freeze over.[b] 7 It will be a unique day—known to the Lord—neither day nor night. But at evening time there will be light.
8 On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it toward the eastern sea[c] and half of it toward the western sea.[d] It will continue to flow in summer and in winter.
9 The Lord will be King over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be the one, and his name will be the one.
Instruction Concerning Sexual Propriety
4 Therefore, beyond this, brothers, just as you received instruction from us about how you are to walk[a] so as to please God (as indeed you are doing), we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that you do so even more. 2 To be sure, you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 Indeed, this is God’s will: that you be sanctified, namely, that you keep yourselves away from sexual immorality. 4 He wants each of you to learn to obtain a wife[b] for yourself[c] in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in lustful passion like the heathen, who do not know God. 6 No one is to overstep and take advantage of his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, just as we said previously and solemnly testified to it. 7 For God did not call us for uncleanness, but in sanctification. 8 Consequently, whoever rejects this is not rejecting a man, but the God who gives you his Holy Spirit.
Instruction Concerning Brotherly Love and Labor
9 Concerning brotherly love, there is no need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God, with the result that you love one another. 10 In fact, you are doing so toward all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we encourage you, brothers, to do this even more, 11 and to make it your ambition to live a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, just as we instructed you. 12 Do this so that you are conducting yourselves decently toward outsiders and are not lacking anything.
Instruction Concerning the Resurrection of the Dead at Christ’s Second Coming
13 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who have fallen asleep,[d] so that you do not grieve in the same way as the others, who have no hope. 14 Indeed, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then in the same way we also believe that God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.
15 In fact, we tell you this by the word of the Lord: We who are alive and left until the coming of the Lord will certainly not go on ahead of those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them, to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore, encourage one another with these words.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.