Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

²³ Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord, your God; for He gives you the former or early rain in just measure and in righteousness, and He causes to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain, as before.

²⁴ And the [threshing] floors shall be full of grain and the vats shall overflow with juice [of the grape] and oil.

²⁵ And I will restore or replace for you the years that the locust has eaten—the hopping locust, the stripping locust, and the crawling locust, My great army which I sent among you.

²⁶ And you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord, your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you. And My people shall never be put to shame.

²⁷ And you shall know, understand, and realize that I am in the midst of Israel and that I the Lord am your God and there is none else. My people shall never be put to shame.

²⁸ And afterward I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.

²⁹ Even upon the menservants and upon the maidservants in those days will I pour out My Spirit.

³⁰ And I will show signs and wonders in the heavens, and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.

³¹ The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.^(A)

³² And whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered and saved, for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the remnant [of survivors] shall be those whom the Lord calls.^(B)

Psalm 65

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. A song.

¹ To You belongs silence (the submissive wonder of reverence which bursts forth into praise) and praise is due and fitting to You, O God, in Zion; and to You shall the vow be performed.

² O You Who hear prayer, to You shall all flesh come.

³ Iniquities and much varied guilt prevail against me; [yet] as for our transgressions, You forgive and purge them away [make atonement for them and cover them out of Your sight]!

⁴ Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whom You choose and cause to come near, that he may dwell in Your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Your holy temple.

⁵ By fearful and glorious things [that terrify the wicked but make the godly sing praises] do You answer us in righteousness (rightness and justice), O God of our salvation, You Who are the confidence and hope of all the ends of the earth and of those far off on the seas;

⁶ Who by [Your] might have founded the mountains, being girded with power,

⁷ Who still the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the tumult of the peoples,

⁸ So that those who dwell in earth’s farthest parts are afraid of [nature’s] signs of Your presence. You make the places where morning and evening have birth to shout for joy.

⁹ You visit the earth and saturate it with water; You greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; You provide them with grain when You have so prepared the earth.

¹⁰ You water the field’s furrows abundantly, You settle the ridges of it; You make the soil soft with showers, blessing the sprouting of its vegetation.

¹¹ You crown the year with Your bounty and goodness, and the tracks of Your [chariot wheels] drip with fatness.

¹² The [luxuriant] pastures in the uncultivated country drip [with moisture], and the hills gird themselves with joy.

¹³ The meadows are clothed with flocks, the valleys also are covered with grain; they shout for joy and sing together.

⁶ For I am already about to be sacrificed [my life is about to be poured out as a drink offering]; the time of my [spirit’s] release [from the body] is at hand and I will soon go free.

⁷ I have fought the good (worthy, honorable, and noble) fight, I have finished the race, I have kept (firmly held) the faith.

⁸ [As to what remains] henceforth there is laid up for me the [victor’s] crown of righteousness [for being right with God and doing right], which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me and recompense me on that [great] day—and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved and yearned for and welcomed His appearing (His return).

¹⁶ At my first trial no one acted in my defense [as my advocate] or took my part or [even] stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them!

¹⁷ But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the [Gospel] message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was delivered out of the jaws of the lion.

¹⁸ [And indeed] the Lord will certainly deliver and ^[a]draw me to Himself from every assault of evil. He will preserve and bring me safe unto His heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen (so be it).

⁹ He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves and were confident that they were righteous [that they were upright and in right standing with God] and scorned and made nothing of all the rest of men:

¹⁰ Two men went up into the temple [^[a]enclosure] to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

¹¹ The Pharisee ^[b]took his stand ostentatiously and began to pray thus before and with himself: God, I thank You that I am not like the rest of men—extortioners (robbers), swindlers [unrighteous in heart and life], adulterers—or even like this tax collector here.

¹² I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I gain.

¹³ But the tax collector, [merely] standing at a distance, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but kept striking his breast, saying, O God, be favorable (be gracious, be merciful) to me, the ^[c]especially wicked sinner that I am!

¹⁴ I tell you, this man went down to his home justified (forgiven and made upright and in right standing with God), rather than the other man; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.