Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 48[a]
A song, a psalm by the Korahites.
48 The Lord is great and certainly worthy of praise
in the city of our God,[b] his holy hill.
2 It is lofty and pleasing to look at,[c]
a source of joy to the whole earth.[d]
Mount Zion resembles the peaks of Zaphon;[e]
it is the city of the great king.
3 God is in its fortresses;
he reveals himself as its defender.[f]
4 For[g] look, the kings assemble;[h]
they advance together.
5 As soon as they see,[i] they are shocked;[j]
they are terrified, they quickly retreat.[k]
6 Look at them shake uncontrollably,[l]
like a woman writhing in childbirth.[m]
7 With an east wind
you shatter[n] the large ships.[o]
8 We heard about God’s mighty deeds; now we have seen them,[p]
in the city of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,[q]
in the city of our God.
God makes it permanently secure.[r] (Selah)
9 Within your temple
we reflect on your loyal love, O God.
10 The praise you receive as far away as the ends of the earth
is worthy of your reputation, O God.[s]
You execute justice.[t]
11 Mount Zion rejoices;
the towns[u] of Judah are happy,[v]
because of your acts of judgment.[w]
12 Walk around[x] Zion. Encircle it.
Count its towers.
13 Consider its defenses.[y]
Walk through[z] its fortresses,
so you can tell the next generation about it.[aa]
14 For God, our God, is our defender forever.[ab]
He guides[ac] us.[ad]
14 Then the Lord’s message came to me: 15 “Son of man, your brothers,[a] your relatives,[b] and the whole house of Israel, all of them are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘They have gone far away[c] from the Lord; to us this land has been given as a possession.’
16 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Although I have removed them far away among the nations and have dispersed them among the countries, I have been a little[d] sanctuary for them among the lands where they have gone.’
17 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When I regather you from the peoples and assemble you from the lands where you have been dispersed, I will give you back the country of Israel.’
18 “When they return to it, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. 19 I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within them;[e] I will remove the hearts of stone from their bodies[f] and I will give them tender hearts,[g] 20 so that they may follow my statutes and observe my regulations and carry them out. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God.[h] 21 But those whose hearts are devoted to detestable things and abominations, I hereby repay them for what they have done,[i] says the Sovereign Lord.”
22 Then the cherubim spread[j] their wings with their wheels alongside them while the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them. 23 The glory of the Lord rose up from within the city and stopped[k] over the mountain east of it. 24 Then a wind[l] lifted me up and carried me to the exiles in Babylonia,[m] in the vision given to me by the Spirit of God.
Then the vision I had seen went up from me. 25 So I told the exiles everything[n] the Lord had shown me.
12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things that are freely given to us by God. 13 And we speak about these things, not with words taught us by human wisdom, but with those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.[a] 14 The unbeliever[b] does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The one who is spiritual discerns[c] all things, yet he himself is understood[d] by no one. 16 For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to advise him?[e] But we have the mind of Christ.
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