Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
21 To the Overseer. -- A Psalm of David. Jehovah, in Thy strength is the king joyful, In Thy salvation how greatly he rejoiceth.
2 The desire of his heart Thou gavest to him, And the request of his lips Thou hast not withheld. Selah.
3 For Thou puttest before him blessings of goodness, Thou settest on his head a crown of fine gold.
4 Life he hath asked from Thee, Thou hast given to him -- length of days, Age-during -- and for ever.
5 Great [is] his honour in Thy salvation, Honour and majesty Thou placest on him.
6 For Thou makest him blessings for ever, Thou dost cause him to rejoice with joy, By Thy countenance.
7 For the king is trusting in Jehovah, And in the kindness of the Most High He is not moved.
8 Thy hand cometh to all Thine enemies, Thy right hand doth find Thy haters.
9 Thou makest them as a furnace of fire, At the time of Thy presence. Jehovah in His anger doth swallow them, And fire doth devour them.
10 Their fruit from earth Thou destroyest, And their seed from the sons of men.
11 For they stretched out against Thee evil, They devised a wicked device, they prevail not,
12 For Thou makest them a butt, When Thy strings Thou preparest against their faces.
13 Be Thou exalted, O Jehovah in, Thy strength, We sing and we praise Thy might!
24 Lo, Jehovah is emptying the land, And is making it waste, And hath overturned [it on] its face, And hath scattered its inhabitants.
2 And it hath been -- as a people so a priest, As the servant so his master, As the maid-servant so her mistress, As the buyer so the seller, As the lender so the borrower, As the usurer so he who is lifting [it] on himself.
3 Utterly emptied is the land, and utterly spoiled, For Jehovah hath spoken this word:
4 Mourned, faded hath the land, Languished, faded hath the world, Languished have they -- the high place of the people of the land.
5 And the land hath been defiled under its inhabitants, Because they have transgressed laws, They have changed a statute, They have made void a covenant age-during.
6 Therefore a curse hath consumed the land, And the inhabitants in it are become desolate, Therefore consumed have been inhabitants of the land, And few men have been left.
7 Mourned hath the new wine, languished the vine, Sighed have all the joyful of heart.
8 Ceased hath the joy of tabrets, Ceased hath the noise of exulting ones, Ceased hath the joy of a harp.
9 With a song they drink not wine, Bitter is strong drink to those drinking it.
10 It was broken down -- a city of emptiness, Shut hath been every house from entrance.
11 A cry over the wine [is] in out-places, Darkened hath been all joy, Removed hath been the joy of the land.
12 Left in the city [is] desolation, And [with] wasting is the gate smitten.
13 When thus it is in the heart of the land, In the midst of the peoples, As the compassing of the olive, As gleanings when harvest hath been finished,
14 They -- they lift up their voice, They sing of the excellency of Jehovah, They have cried aloud from the sea.
15 Therefore in prosperity honour ye Jehovah, In isles of the sea, the name of Jehovah, God of Israel.
16 From the skirt of the earth we heard songs, The desire of the righteous. And I say, `Leanness [is] to me, Leanness [is] to me, wo [is] to me.' Treacherous dealers dealt treacherously, Yea, treachery, treacherous dealers dealt treacherously.
4 As to the rest, then, brethren, we request you, and call upon you in the Lord Jesus, as ye did receive from us how it behoveth you to walk and to please God, that ye may abound the more,
2 for ye have known what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus,
3 for this is the will of God -- your sanctification; that ye abstain from the whoredom,
4 that each of you know his own vessel to possess in sanctification and honour,
5 not in the affection of desire, as also the nations that were not knowing God,
6 that no one go beyond and defraud in the matter his brother, because an avenger [is] the Lord of all these, as also we spake before to you and testified,
7 for God did not call us on uncleanness, but in sanctification;
8 he, therefore, who is despising -- doth not despise man, but God, who also did give His Holy Spirit to us.
9 And concerning the brotherly love, ye have no need of [my] writing to you, for ye yourselves are God-taught to love one another,
10 for ye do it also to all the brethren who [are] in all Macedonia; and we call upon you, brethren, to abound still more,
11 and to study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we did command you,
12 that ye may walk becomingly unto those without, and may have lack of nothing.