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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with sequential stories told across multiple weeks.

Duration: 1245 days

Psalm 126

Psalm 126^[a]

God, Our Joy and Our Hope

¹^[b]A song of ascents.

When the Lord brought home the captives to Zion,
    we seemed to be dreaming.^[c]
²Our mouths were filled with laughter
    and our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
    “The Lord has done great things for them.”^[d]
³The Lord has indeed done great deeds for us,
    and we are overflowing with joy.^[e]
⁴^[f]Once again restore our fortunes,^[g] O Lord,
    as you did for the streams in the Negeb.
⁵Those who sow in tears^[h]
    will reap with songs of joy.
⁶Those who go forth weeping,
    carrying the seeds to be sown,^[i]
will return with shouts of joy,
    carrying their sheaves.

Footnotes

Psalm 126:1 The Jewish community takes pains to be reestablished. But joy fills the people’s hearts. They still resound with the gladness and hope of the caravans returning from the Exile, and every pilgrimage unfolds like a new Exodus (vv. 1-3; see Isa 48:21), a return from the Exile. It is also faith in an even more wondrous future, the gathering together of all by the side of the Messiah. Such happiness is prepared for in the suffering of the present just as the harvest grows out of the grain sown into the earth where it dies (see Jn 12:24; Rom 8:8-25; 1 Cor 15:35-49).
In praying this psalm, we can also be mindful of the wondrous spiritual salvation of sinners worked by Christ in accord with the will of the Father. This salvation constitutes a spiritual Exodus from the sinful world to the divine dwelling of the earthly Church and then of the heavenly Church, a transferral from satanic tyranny to the gentle yoke of Christ and then of the heavenly Father, a conversion from infidelity to fidelity toward Christ and his Father. Such are the wonders that God has worked radically for all in causing Christ to pass from the grave to heaven, from death to glorious life (see Eph 4:8), and that he works effectively for every believer who shares in this mystery through faith (see Jn 5:24).
Psalm 126:1 The edict of the Persian King Cyrus the Great in 538 B.C. that permitted the exiles to return home was totally unexpected despite the oracles issued by Isaiah and Jeremiah. The long period of the captivity had caused many to give up hope. Hence, the joy of their deliverance was indescribable. The Gentiles, too, were impressed by this event; for many nations in the ancient Near East had vanished owing to conquest and exile, and the conventional wisdom was that little Israel would suffer the same fate. When this proved not to be the case, the People of God acknowledged that it was the Lord who had done great things for them.
Psalm 126:1 The restoration of the captives to Zion took place in 538 B.C., in fulfillment of the prophetic word (see Isa 14:1f; 44:24—45:25; 48:20f; Jer 29:14; 30:3; 33:7, 10f; Am 9:14). However, when the actual moment came, it felt like a mirage. When the Lord . . . dreaming: another translation is: “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, / we were like men restored to health.”
Psalm 126:2 So great was the act of restoration and the joy of the people that the nations heard about it too (see Ps 98:2; Isa 52:10; Ezek 36:36) and praised the Lord (see note on Ps 46:10).
Psalm 126:3 The psalmist affirms that the Lord has done great things for the people, and they are filled with joy. We Christians can use this verse in our own right to declare the manifold blessings bestowed on us in Christ, especially his Resurrection, which turned the disciples’ sorrow into joy and brought salvation to the world that had previously been in bondage to the devil.
Psalm 126:4 The reality of life in Canaan soon tempered the joy of the repatriates, for they had to eke out an existence in the land that had remained untended for years. So the people cry out to God for a continuation of the restoration: restoration of their well-being in the land (fortunes; see Ps 14:7). And they are assured of God’s continued fidelity to his promise.
Psalm 126:4 The repatriates, disappointed by the limited fulfillment of the prophetic word, turn to the Lord. They beg him to grant them a complete restoration and give them a brighter future even if to do so he has to perform a miracle like creating streams in the Negeb. Restore our fortunes: another possible translation is: “Bring back our people from captivity.” No matter what the text, the prayer is one for a better future. Streams in the Negeb: the wadis of southern Palestine, almost always dry, are suddenly filled by the winter rains and fertilize the earth (see 2 Ki 3:20; Isa 41:18), representing proverbially the sudden coming of God’s blessing.
Psalm 126:5 God will be true to his promise, but the people must also do their part—they must sow the seed in order to have a harvest. God will turn the people’s tears into songs of joy by blessing them in their various endeavors and rewarding their laborious toil.
Psalm 126:6 The psalm concludes on the expectation of another miracle to take place; the people will return with shouts of joy because of the plentiful harvest. The time of exile was like a sowing of tears; it was a time of penance. The time of the harvest has not yet come. But as certainly as in nature the harvest follows upon seeding, so certain is it that a time of joy will follow for God’s people. Thus, the psalm attests to the certainty of the Lord’s promise. Seeds to be sown: “Previously the seed had not sprouted, and the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree, had borne no fruit. From this day forward I intend to bless you” (Hag 2:19).

Isaiah 19:18-25

¹⁸On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Canaan and swearing allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One of these will be called the City of the Sun.

¹⁹On that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the land of Egypt, and a sacred pillar to the Lord at its border. ²⁰It will serve as a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the Lord for his help against their oppressors, he will send them a savior to defend and deliver them. ²¹The Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will acknowledge the Lord on that day. They will offer sacrifices and oblations, and they will make vows to the Lord and fulfill them. ²²The Lord will strike Egypt severely, but he will then bring them healing. After that they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their prayers and heal them.

²³On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will enter Egypt, and the Egyptians will enter Assyria, and Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together.

²⁴On that day Israel will be a member of a triumvirate with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing at the center of the world, ²⁵and the Lord of hosts will bless them with these words: “Blessed be my people Egypt, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my heritage.”

2 Peter 1:2-15

²may grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge^[a] of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Exhortation to Growth in Christian Virtues

Strengthen Your Vocation.^[b] ³His divine power has bestowed on us everything that is necessary for life and for devotion through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue. ⁴By these he has given us his precious promises, great beyond all price, so that through them you may escape from the corruption with which evil desires have infected the world and thereby may come to share in the divine nature.^[c]

⁵^[d]In view of all this, you should make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, ⁶and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with piety, ⁷and piety with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love.

⁸If you possess these qualities and they increase in abundance, they will prevent your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ from being ineffective and unfruitful. ⁹For anyone who lacks them is near-sighted or blind, since he has forgotten how his past sins were washed away.^[e]

¹⁰Therefore, brethren, be diligent in providing a firm foundation for your call and election. If you do this, you will never stumble, ¹¹and you will receive a glorious welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.^[f]

¹²The Witness of an Apostle.^[g] Therefore, I will continue to emphasize these things repeatedly, even though you already know them and are well grounded in the truth you possess. ¹³For I think it is right, to refresh your memory as long as I remain in this body,^[h] ¹⁴since I know that my death^[i] will come soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. ¹⁵And I shall also make every effort to ensure that you will always recall these things after my departure.

Footnotes

2 Peter 1:2 Knowledge: a key theme of the Letter (see 2 Pet 1:3, 5, 8; 2:20; 3:18), probably to combat the claims of the Gnostics.
2 Peter 1:3 Christianity is not just another religious theory among those that are actually in vogue. To believe is to place oneself personally under the very action of God and to know that the destiny of human beings is accomplished in his eternal Kingdom. Christians live in communion with God; the earthly dimension does not suffice for them. And these great realities are not mere words; they demand a radical change in the manner of conceiving one’s destiny and conducting one’s existence. Thus, regardless of the historical distance from the time of its foundation, the Christian life constitutes a new state of existence.
2 Peter 1:4 Share in the divine nature: an expression found only here in the Bible. The author uses it to express the fullness of divine life in Christ (see Jn 1:12; 14:20; 15:4f; Rom 6:5; 1 Cor 1:9f; 1 Jn 1:3b).
2 Peter 1:5 The author lists the virtues that are needed for a genuine Christian life.
2 Peter 1:9 This is similar to the warning in the Johannine Letters against the Gnostics (see 1 Jn 1:8f), who claimed to know God without keeping the commandments.
2 Peter 1:11 Kingdom of . . . Christ: it is also the Kingdom of the Father (see Eph 5:5; 2 Tim 4:1; Rev 11:15).
2 Peter 1:12 The testimony of an Apostle has a greater value than any arbitrary Gnostic speculation.
To emphasize this point, the author presents his work as a testament of Peter, who reminds the readers that the Lord had told him of his proximate death (see Jn 21:18-19) and insists above all on the fact that he had been a witness of the Transfiguration (see Mt 17:1-13; Mk 9:2-13; Lk 9:28-36), an event that bore witness to the glory of Christ and thereby guaranteed his glorious Return, which was being challenged at this time.
2 Peter 1:13 Body: literally, “tent.”
2 Peter 1:14 My death: literally, “the time for laying aside this tent.”

New Catholic Bible (NCB)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 126[a]

God, Our Joy and Our Hope

Footnotes

Exhortation to Growth in Christian Virtues

Footnotes

Psalm 126^[a]