Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 80
For the Music Director. To the melody of “Lilies of the Testimony.” A Psalm of Asaph.
1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
You who lead Joseph like a flock;
You who are enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth.
2 In the sight of Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,
stir up Your strength,
and come and rescue us.
3 Restore us again, O God,
and cause Your face to shine,
and we shall be delivered.
4 O Lord God of Hosts,
how long will You be angry
against the prayers of Your people?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears
and have given them tears to drink in great measure.
6 You make us contention for our neighbors,
and our enemies laugh among themselves.
7 Restore us again, O God of Hosts,
and cause Your face to shine,
and we shall be delivered.
17 Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand,
the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself.
18 So we will not turn back from You;
give us life, and we will call upon Your name.
19 Restore us again, O Lord God of Hosts;
cause Your face to shine,
and we shall be delivered.
The Day of the Lord
14 A day of the Lord is coming when your spoil will be divided in your midst.
2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem for battle. The city will be captured and the houses plundered and the women ravished. Half of the city will go to exile, but the remainder of the people will not be cut off from the city. 3 Then the Lord will go out and fight those nations as He fights in the day of war. 4 On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is to the east of Jerusalem. And from east to west the Mount of Olives will be split in two halves by a very great valley so that one half moves to the north and the other to the south. 5 And you will flee to my mountain valley, for the mountain valley will reach to Azal. You will flee just like you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come and all His holy ones with you.
6 And on that day there will be no light. The lights will diminish. 7 And there will be one day known to the Lord, neither during the day nor the night, but at the evening time there will be light.
8 On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half to the Dead Sea and the other half to the Mediterranean Sea. This will happen for the summer as well as the winter.
9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth. In that day it will be—“The Lord is one,” and His name is one.
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 Lord’s Coming
13 But I would not have you ignorant, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and arose again, so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall be forever with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.