Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
7 ¶ Be silent before the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD has prepared a sacrifice, he has bid his guests.
12 And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps and make a visitation upon the men that are settled on their lees, that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.
13 Therefore their goods shall become a spoil, and their houses a desolation: they shall build houses, but not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof.
14 ¶ The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hastens greatly, the bitter voice of the day of the LORD; the mighty man shall cry there.
15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
16 A day of the shofar and alarm upon the strong cities, and upon the high towers.
17 And I will bring distress upon men that they shall walk like blind men because they have sinned against the LORD, and their blood shall be poured out as dust and their flesh as the dung.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’s wrath, but the whole earth shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all those that dwell in the earth.
A Prayer of Moses the man of God.
1 ¶ Lord, thou hast been our refuge from generation to generation.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
3 Thou dost turn unto man until he is broken and thou saith, Become converted, ye sons of Adam.
4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past and as a watch in the night.
5 Thou dost cause them to pass by as the waters of a river; they are as a dream, which is strong in the morning like grass.
6 In the morning it blossoms and grows up; in the evening it is cut down and withers.
7 ¶ For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath we are troubled.
8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
9 For all our days decline because of thy wrath; we end our years according to the word.
10 The days of our years are seventy, and of the most valiant eighty years, yet their strength is labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
11 Who knows the power of thine anger? that thy wrath is not less than our fear.
12 ¶ Cause us to learn this that we might number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
5 ¶ But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
2 For ye know well that the day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction shall come upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should take you as a thief.
5 Ye are all the sons of light, and the sons of the day; we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 ¶ Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For those that sleep sleep in the night, and those that are drunken are drunken in the night.
8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and charity, and for a helmet, the hope of saving health.
9 For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain saving health by our Lord Jesus Christ,
10 who died for us, that whether we watch or sleep, we should live together with him.
11 ¶ Therefore comfort and edify one another, even as ye do.
14 ¶ For it is like a man travelling into a far country, who called his own slaves and delivered unto them his goods.
15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each one according to his faculty, and straightway took his journey.
16 And after he was gone, he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same and made another five talents.
17 And likewise he that had received two, he also gained another two.
18 But he that had received one went and dug in the earth and hid his lord’s money.
19 And after a long time the lord of those slaves came and reckoned accounts with them.
20 And so he that had received five talents came and brought another five talents, saying, Lord, thou didst deliver unto me five talents; behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful slave; thou hast been faithful over a few things; I will set thee over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
22 He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou didst deliver unto me two talents; behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful slave; thou hast been faithful over a few things; I will set thee over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
24 Then he who had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown and gathering where thou hast not scattered;
25 therefore, I was afraid and went and hid thy talent in the earth; behold, thou hast what is thine.
26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful slave, thou knewest that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I have not scattered;
27 therefore, it was expedient for thee to have put my money to the bankers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with interest.
28 Take, therefore, the talent from him and give it unto him who has ten talents.
29 For unto every one that has shall be given, and he shall have abundance, but from him that has not shall be taken away even that which he has.
30 And cast ye the unprofitable slave into the outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Copyright © 2013, 2020 by Ransom Press International