Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
2 Certainly God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid;
for the Lord God is my strength and my song;
He also has become my salvation.
3 Therefore with joy you shall draw water
out of the wells of salvation.
4 In that day you shall say:
Praise the Lord, call upon His name,
declare His deeds among the peoples,
make them remember that His name is exalted.
5 Sing to the Lord, for He has done excellent things;
let this be known in all the earth.
6 Cry out and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion.
For great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst.
Against the Greedy
4 Hear this, you who trample on the needy
to make the poor of the land fail,
5 saying,
“When will the New Moon be over,
so that we may sell grain?
And the Sabbath,
that we may open the wheat sales,
making the ephah[a] too small,
and the shekel[b] too heavy,
cheating with dishonest scales,
6 that we may buy the poor for silver,
the needy for a pair of sandals,
and sell the refuse as wheat?”
7 The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.
8 Will not the land tremble because of this,
and everyone mourn who lives on it?
It will all rise up like the Nile,
and be tossed around, then sink
like the Nile of Egypt.
9 On that day, says the Lord God,
I will make the sun go down at noon,
and darken the earth in mid-daylight;
10 I will turn your feasts into mourning,
and all your songs into dirges;
I will put sackcloth upon all loins,
and baldness on every head;
I will make it like the mourning for an only child,
and its end like a bitter day.
11 The time is coming, says the Lord God,
when I will send a famine on the land,
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 They will wander from sea to sea,
and from north to east;
they will run back and forth to seek the word of the Lord,
but they will not find it.
The Offering for the Saints
9 It is redundant for me to write to you concerning the ministry to the saints. 2 I know your willingness, for which I boast of you to those in Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago, and your zeal has stirred up most of them. 3 Yet I have sent the brothers, lest our boasting of you might be in vain in this case, that, as I said, you may be ready; 4 and lest if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we (not to mention you) should be ashamed of this confident boasting. 5 Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brothers to go ahead to you and arrange beforehand your bountiful gift you previously promised, that it might be prepared as a gift, not as a matter of greed.
6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Let every man give according to the purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or out of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 God is able to make all grace abound toward you, so that you, always having enough of everything, may abound to every good work. 9 As it is written:
“He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor;
His righteousness remains forever.”[a]
10 Now He who supplies seed to the sower and supplies bread for your food will also multiply your seed sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness. 11 So you will be enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which makes us give thanks to God.
12 For the administration of this service not only supplies the need of the saints, but is abundant also through many thanksgivings to God. 13 Meanwhile, through the performance of this ministry, they glorify God for the profession of your faith in the gospel of Christ and for your liberal sharing with them and with all others. 14 And in their prayer for you, they long for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you. 15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.