Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The Day of the Lord
18 Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord!(A)
What will the day of the Lord be for you?
It will be darkness and not light.(B)
19 It will be like a man who flees from a lion(C)
only to have a bear confront him.
He goes home and rests his hand against the wall
only to have a snake bite him.
20 Won’t the day of the Lord
be darkness rather than light,(D)
even gloom without any brightness in it?(E)
21 I hate, I despise, your feasts!(F)
I can’t stand the stench
of your solemn assemblies.(G)
22 Even if you offer me
your burnt offerings and grain offerings,(H)
I will not accept them;(I)
I will have no regard
for your fellowship offerings of fattened cattle.(J)
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.(K)
24 But let justice flow like water,
and righteousness, like an unfailing stream.(L)
Psalm 70
A Call for Deliverance
For the choir director. Of David. To bring remembrance.(A)
1 God, hurry to rescue me.
Lord, hurry to help me!(B)
2 Let those who seek to kill me
be disgraced and confounded;
let those who wish me harm
be turned back and humiliated.
3 Let those who say, “Aha, aha!”
retreat because of their shame.(C)
The Comfort of Christ’s Coming
13 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.(A) 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose(B) again,(C) in the same way, through Jesus,(D) God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For we say this to you by a word from the Lord:(E) We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming(F) will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.(G) 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout,[a](H) with the archangel’s(I) voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ(J) will rise first. 17 Then(K) we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds(L) to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage[b] one another with these words.
The Parable of the Ten Virgins
25 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins[a] who took their lamps[b] and went out to meet the groom.(A) 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise.(B) 3 When the foolish took their lamps, they didn’t take oil with them; 4 but the wise ones took oil in their flasks with their lamps. 5 When the groom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 “In the middle of the night there was a shout: ‘Here’s the groom! Come out to meet him.’
7 “Then all the virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise ones, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’
9 “The wise ones answered, ‘No, there won’t be enough for us and for you. Go instead to those who sell oil, and buy some for yourselves.’
10 “When they had gone to buy some, the groom arrived, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet, and the door was shut.(C) 11 Later the rest of the virgins also came and said, ‘Master, master, open up for us!’
12 “He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you!’
13 “Therefore be alert, because you don’t know either the day or the hour.[c]
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