Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 32

[A Psalm of David.] A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem.

¹ Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is he who has forgiveness of his transgression continually exercised upon him, whose sin is covered.

² Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit.^(A)

³ When I kept silence [before I confessed], my bones wasted away through my groaning all the day long.

⁴ For day and night Your hand [of displeasure] was heavy upon me; my moisture was turned into the drought of summer. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁵ I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord [continually unfolding the past till all is told]—then You [instantly] forgave me the guilt and iniquity of my sin. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁶ For this [forgiveness] let everyone who is godly pray—pray to You in a time when You may be found; surely when the great waters [of trial] overflow, they shall not reach [the spirit in] him.

⁷ You are a hiding place for me; You, Lord, preserve me from trouble, You surround me with songs and shouts of deliverance. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁸ I [the Lord] will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.

⁹ Be not like the horse or the mule, which lack understanding, which must have their mouths held firm with bit and bridle, or else they will not come with you.

¹⁰ Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts in, relies on, and confidently leans on the Lord shall be compassed about with mercy and with loving-kindness.

¹¹ Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you [uncompromisingly] righteous [you who are upright and in right standing with Him]; shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

¹⁴ On that day the Lord magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they stood in awe of him, as they stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life.

¹⁵ And the Lord said to Joshua,

¹⁶ Order the priests bearing the ark of the Testimony to come up out of the Jordan.

¹⁷ So Joshua commanded the priests, Come up out of the Jordan.

¹⁸ And when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord had come up out of the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of their feet were lifted up to the dry land, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and flowed over all its banks as they had before.

¹⁹ And the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and encamped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.

²⁰ And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan Joshua set up in Gilgal.

²¹ And he said to the Israelites, When your children ask their fathers in time to come, What do these stones mean?

²² You shall let your children know, Israel came over this Jordan on dry ground.

²³ For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up for us until we passed over,

²⁴ That all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty and that you may reverence and fear the Lord your God forever.

⁶ So then, we are always full of good and hopeful and confident courage; we know that while we are at home in the body, we are abroad from the home with the Lord [that is promised us].

⁷ For we walk by faith [we ^[a]regulate our lives and conduct ourselves by our conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, with trust and holy fervor; thus we walk] not by sight or appearance.

⁸ [Yes] we have confident and hopeful courage and are pleased rather to be away from home out of the body and be at home with the Lord.

⁹ Therefore, whether we are at home [on earth away from Him] or away from home [and with Him], we are constantly ambitious and strive earnestly to be pleasing to Him.

¹⁰ For we must all appear and be revealed as we are before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive [his pay] according to what he has done in the body, whether good or evil [considering ^[b]what his purpose and motive have been, and what he has ^[c]achieved, been busy with, and given himself and his attention to accomplishing].

¹¹ Therefore, being conscious of fearing the Lord with respect and reverence, we seek to win people over [to persuade them]. But ^[d]what sort of persons we are is plainly recognized and thoroughly understood by God, and I hope that it is plainly recognized and thoroughly understood also by your consciences (your inborn discernment).

¹² We are not commending ourselves to you again, but we are providing you with an occasion and incentive to be [rightfully] proud of us, so that you may have a reply for those who pride themselves on surface appearances [^[e]on the virtues they only appear to have], although their heart is devoid of them.

¹³ For if we are beside ourselves [mad, as some say], it is for God and concerns Him; if we are in our right mind, it is for your benefit,

¹⁴ For the love of Christ controls and urges and impels us, because we are of the opinion and conviction that [if] One died for all, then all died;

¹⁵ And He died for all, so that all those who live might live no longer to and for themselves, but to and for Him Who died and was raised again for their sake.