Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 87

A Psalm of the sons of Korah. A song.

¹ On the holy hills stands the city [of Jerusalem and the temple] God founded.

² The Lord loves the gates of Zion [through which the crowds of pilgrims enter from all nations] more than all the dwellings of Jacob (Israel).

³ Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. Selah [pause, and calmly realize what that means]!

⁴ I will make mention of Rahab [the poetic name for Egypt] and Babylon as among those who know [the city of God]—behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia (Cush)—[saying], This man was born there.

⁵ Yes, of Zion it shall be said, This man and that man were born in her, for the Most High Himself will establish her.

⁶ The Lord shall count, when He registers the peoples, that this man was born there. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁷ The singers as well as the players on instruments shall say, All my springs (my sources of life and joy) are in you [city of our God].

3 For behold, in those days and at that time when I shall reverse the captivity and restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,

² I will gather all nations and will bring them down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and there will I deal with and execute judgment upon them for [their treatment of] My people and of My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations and [because] they have divided My land.

³ And they have cast lots for My people, and have given a boy for a harlot and have sold a girl for juice [of the grape] and have drunk it.

⁴ Yes, and what are you to Me, O Tyre and Sidon and all the [five small] divisions of Philistia? Will you pay Me back for something? Even if you pay Me back, swiftly and speedily I will return your deed [of retaliation] upon your own head,^(A)

⁵ Because you have taken My silver and My gold and have carried into your temples and palaces My precious treasures,

⁶ And have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the sons of the Grecians, that you may remove them far from their border.

⁷ Behold, I will stir them up out of the place to which you have sold them and will return your deed [of retaliation] upon your own head.

⁸ I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far off, for the Lord has spoken it.^(B)

¹² Beloved, do not be amazed and bewildered at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test your quality, as though something strange (unusual and alien to you and your position) were befalling you.

¹³ But insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, rejoice, so that when His glory [full of radiance and splendor] is revealed, you may also rejoice with triumph [exultantly].

¹⁴ If you are censured and suffer abuse [because you bear] the name of Christ, blessed [are you—happy, fortunate, ^[a]to be envied, ^[b]with life-joy, and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of your outward condition], because the Spirit of glory, the Spirit of God, is resting upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.^(A)

¹⁵ But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or any sort of criminal, or as a mischief-maker (a meddler) in the affairs of others [infringing on their rights].

¹⁶ But if [one is ill-treated and suffers] as a Christian [which he is contemptuously called], let him not be ashamed, but give glory to God that he is [deemed worthy to suffer] in this name.

¹⁷ For the time [has arrived] for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will [be] the end of those who do not respect or believe or obey the good news (the Gospel) of God?

¹⁸ And if the righteous are barely saved, what will become of the godless and wicked?^(B)

¹⁹ Therefore, those who are ill-treated and suffer in accordance with God’s will must do right and commit their souls [in charge as a deposit] to the One Who created [them] and will never fail [them].