Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Beauty and Glory of Zion.
A Song; a Psalm of the sons of Korah.
48 (A)Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
In the (B)city of our God, His (C)holy mountain.
2 (D)Beautiful in elevation, (E)the joy of the whole earth,
Is Mount Zion in the far north,
The (F)city of the great King.
3 God, in her palaces,
Has made Himself known as a (G)stronghold.
4 For, lo, the (H)kings assembled themselves,
They passed by together.
5 They saw it, then they were amazed;
They were (I)terrified, they [a]fled in alarm.
6 [b]Panic seized them there,
Anguish, as of (J)a woman in childbirth.
7 With the (K)east wind
You (L)break the (M)ships of Tarshish.
8 As we have heard, so have we seen
In the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God;
God will (N)establish her forever. [c]Selah.
9 We have thought on (O)Your lovingkindness, O God,
In the midst of Your temple.
10 As is Your (P)name, O God,
So is Your (Q)praise to the ends of the earth;
Your (R)right hand is full of righteousness.
11 Let Mount (S)Zion be glad,
Let the (T)daughters of Judah rejoice
Because of Your judgments.
12 Walk about Zion and go around her;
Count her (U)towers;
13 Consider her (V)ramparts;
Go through her palaces,
That you may (W)tell it to the next generation.
14 For [d]such is God,
Our God forever and ever;
He will (X)guide us [e]until death.
Deliverance Promised
18 Then the Lord [a]will be (A)zealous for His land
And [b]will have (B)pity on His people.
19 The Lord [c]will answer and say to His people,
“Behold, I am going to (C)send you grain, new wine and oil,
And you will be satisfied in full with [d]them;
And I will (D)never again make you a reproach among the nations.
20 “But I will remove the (E)northern army far from you,
And I will drive it into a parched and desolate land,
And its vanguard into the (F)eastern sea,
And its rear guard into the (G)western sea.
And its (H)stench will arise and its foul smell will come up,
For it has done great things.”
21 (I)Do not fear, O land, rejoice and be glad,
For the Lord has done (J)great things.
22 Do not fear, beasts of the field,
For the (K)pastures of the wilderness have turned green,
For the tree has borne its fruit,
The fig tree and the vine have yielded [e]in full.
23 So rejoice, O (L)sons of Zion,
And (M)be glad in the Lord your God;
For He has (N)given you [f]the early rain for your vindication.
And He has poured down for you the rain,
The [g]early and [h](O)latter rain [i]as before.
24 The threshing floors will be full of grain,
And the vats will (P)overflow with the new wine and oil.
25 “Then I will make up to you for the years
That the swarming (Q)locust has eaten,
The creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust,
My great army which I sent among you.
26 “You will have plenty to (R)eat and be satisfied
And (S)praise the name of the Lord your God,
Who has (T)dealt wondrously with you;
Then My people will (U)never be put to shame.
27 “Thus you will (V)know that I am in the midst of Israel,
And that I am the Lord your God,
And there is (W)no other;
And My people will never be (X)put to shame.
The Promise of the Spirit
Paul’s Reliance upon the Spirit
2 And when I came to you, brethren, I (A)did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you (B)the [a]testimony of God. 2 For I determined to know nothing among you except (C)Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in (D)weakness and in (E)fear and in much trembling, 4 and my [b]message and my preaching were (F)not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of (G)the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not [c]rest on the wisdom of men, but on (H)the power of God.
6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are (I)mature; a wisdom, however, not of (J)this age nor of the rulers of (K)this age, who are (L)passing away; 7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a (M)mystery, the hidden wisdom which God (N)predestined before the (O)ages to our glory; 8 the wisdom (P)which none of the rulers of (Q)this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified (R)the Lord of glory; 9 but just as it is written,
“(S)Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard,
And which have not entered the heart of man,
All that God has prepared for those who love Him.”
10 [d](T)For to us God revealed them (U)through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the (V)depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the (W)spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.