Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
65 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David. A song:
2 (1) To you, God, in Tziyon, silence is praise;
and vows to you are to be fulfilled.
3 (2) You who listen to prayer,
to you all living creatures come.
4 (3) When deeds of wickedness overwhelm me,
you will atone for our crimes.
5 (4) How blessed are those you choose and bring near,
so that they can remain in your courtyards!
We will be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
the Holy Place of your temple.
6 (5) It is just that you answer us with awesome deeds,
God of our salvation,
you in whom all put their trust,
to the ends of the earth and on distant seas.
7 (6) By your strength you set up the mountains.
You are clothed with power.
8 (7) You still the roaring of the seas,
their crashing waves, and the peoples’ turmoil.
9 (8) This is why those living at the ends of the earth
stand in awe of your signs.
The places where the sun rises and sets
you cause to sing for joy.
10 (9) You care for the earth and water it,
you enrich it greatly;
with the river of God, full of water,
you provide them grain and prepare the ground.
11 (10) Soaking its furrows and settling its soil,
you soften it with showers and bless its growth.
12 (11) You crown the year with your goodness,
your tracks overflow with richness.
13 (12) The desert pastures drip water,
the hills are wrapped with joy,
14 (13) the meadows are clothed with flocks
and the valleys blanketed with grain,
so they shout for joy and break into song.
2 “Blow the shofar in Tziyon!
Sound an alarm on my holy mountain!”
Let all living in the land tremble,
for the Day of Adonai is coming! It’s upon us! —
2 a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick fog;
a great and mighty horde is spreading
like blackness over the mountains.
There has never been anything like it,
nor will there ever be again,
not even after the years
of many generations.
3 Ahead of them a fire devours,
behind them a flame consumes;
ahead the land is like Gan-‘Eden,
behind them a desert waste.
From them there is no escape.
4 They look like horses,
and like cavalry they charge.
5 With a rumble like that of chariots
they leap over the mountaintops,
like crackling flames devouring stubble,
like a mighty horde in battle array.
6 At their presence the peoples writhe in anguish,
every face is drained of color.
7 Like warriors they charge,
they scale the wall like soldiers.
Each one keeps to his own course,
without getting in the other’s way.
8 They don’t jostle each other,
but stay on their own paths;
they burst through defenses unharmed,
without even breaking rank.
9 They rush into the city,
they run along the wall,
they climb up into the houses,
entering like a thief through the windows.
10 At their advance the earth quakes,
and the sky shakes,
the sun and moon turn black,
and the stars stop shining.
11 Adonai shouts orders to his forces —
his army is immense, mighty,
and it does what he says.
For great is the Day of Adonai, fearsome,
terrifying! Who can endure it?
10 But you, you have closely followed my teaching, conduct, purpose in life, trust, steadfastness, love and perseverance — 11 as well as the persecutions and sufferings that came my way in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 And indeed, all who want to live a godly life united with the Messiah Yeshua will be persecuted, 13 while evil people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived themselves.
14 But you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, recalling the people from whom you learned it; 15 and recalling too how from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which can give you the wisdom that leads to deliverance through trusting in Yeshua the Messiah.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.