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Psalm 63

1  O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you; ♦︎
   my soul is athirst for you.
2  My flesh also faints for you, ♦︎
   as in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.
3  So would I gaze upon you in your holy place, ♦︎
   that I might behold your power and your glory.
4  Your loving-kindness is better than life itself ♦︎
   and so my lips shall praise you.
5  I will bless you as long as I live ♦︎
   and lift up my hands in your name.
6  My soul shall be satisfied, as with marrow and fatness, ♦︎
   and my mouth shall praise you with joyful lips,
7  When I remember you upon my bed ♦︎
   and meditate on you in the watches of the night.
8  For you have been my helper ♦︎
   and under the shadow of your wings will I rejoice.
9  My soul clings to you; ♦︎
   your right hand shall hold me fast.
10  But those who seek my soul to destroy it ♦︎
   shall go down to the depths of the earth;
11  Let them fall by the edge of the sword ♦︎
   and become a portion for jackals.
12  But the king shall rejoice in God;
      all those who swear by him shall be glad, ♦︎
   for the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped.

Joel

1The word of the Lord that came to Joel son of Pethuel:

Lament over the Ruin of the Country

² Hear this, O elders,
   give ear, all inhabitants of the land!
Has such a thing happened in your days,
   or in the days of your ancestors?
³ Tell your children of it,
   and let your children tell their children,
   and their children another generation.

⁴ What the cutting locust left,
   the swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
   the hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left,
   the destroying locust has eaten.

⁵ Wake up, you drunkards, and weep;
   and wail, all you wine-drinkers,
over the sweet wine,
   for it is cut off from your mouth.
⁶ For a nation has invaded my land,
   powerful and innumerable;
its teeth are lions’ teeth,
   and it has the fangs of a lioness.
⁷ It has laid waste my vines,
   and splintered my fig trees;
it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
   their branches have turned white.

⁸ Lament like a virgin dressed in sackcloth
   for the husband of her youth.
⁹ The grain-offering and the drink-offering are cut off
   from the house of the Lord.
The priests mourn,
   the ministers of the Lord.
¹⁰ The fields are devastated,
   the ground mourns;
for the grain is destroyed,
   the wine dries up,
   the oil fails.

¹¹ Be dismayed, you farmers,
   wail, you vine-dressers,
over the wheat and the barley;
   for the crops of the field are ruined.
¹² The vine withers,
   the fig tree droops.
Pomegranate, palm, and apple—
   all the trees of the field are dried up;
surely, joy withers away
   among the people.

A Call to Repentance and Prayer

¹³ Put on sackcloth and lament, you priests;
   wail, you ministers of the altar.
Come, pass the night in sackcloth,
   you ministers of my God!
Grain-offering and drink-offering
   are withheld from the house of your God.

¹⁴ Sanctify a fast,
   call a solemn assembly.
Gather the elders
   and all the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
   and cry out to the Lord.

Timothy’s Encouraging Report

6 But Timothy has just now come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love. He has told us also that you always remember us kindly and long to see us—just as we long to see you. ⁷For this reason, brothers and sisters,^* during all our distress and persecution we have been encouraged about you through your faith. ⁸For we now live, if you continue to stand firm in the Lord. ⁹How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you? ¹⁰Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith.

11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. ¹²And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. ¹³And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.