Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁷ Be silent at the presence of the Lord Jehovah; for the day of Jehovah is at hand; for Jehovah hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath hallowed his guests.

¹² And it shall come to pass at that time, [that] I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and punish the men that are settled on their lees, that say in their heart, Jehovah will not do good, neither will he do evil.

¹³ And their wealth shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation; and they shall build houses, and not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and not drink the wine thereof.

¹⁴ The great day of Jehovah is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly. The voice of the day of Jehovah: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.

¹⁵ That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of ruin and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and gross darkness,

¹⁶ a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fenced cities and against the high battlements.

¹⁷ And I will bring distress upon men, and they shall walk like blind men; for they have sinned against Jehovah; and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as dung:

¹⁸ their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them, in the day of Jehovah's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for a full end, yea, a sudden [end], shall he make of all them that dwell in the land.

A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.

90 Lord, *thou* hast been our dwelling-place in all generations.

² Before the mountains were brought forth, and thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from eternity to eternity thou art God.

³ Thou makest [mortal] man to return to dust, and sayest, Return, children of men.

⁴ For a thousand years, in thy sight, are as yesterday when it is past, and [as] a watch in the night.

⁵ Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are [as] a sleep: in the morning they are like grass [that] groweth up:

⁶ In the morning it flourisheth and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down and withereth.

⁷ For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy fury are we troubled.

⁸ Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret [sins] in the light of thy countenance.

⁹ For all our days pass away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a [passing] thought.

¹⁰ The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if, by reason of strength, they be fourscore years, yet their pride is labour and vanity, for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

¹¹ Who knoweth the power of thine anger? and thy wrath according to the fear of thee?

¹² So teach [us] to number our days, that we may acquire a wise heart.

5 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that ye should be written to,

² for ye know perfectly well yourselves, that the day of [the] Lord so comes as a thief by night.

³ When they may say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon her that is with child; and they shall in no wise escape.

⁴ But *ye*, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you as a thief:

⁵ for all *ye* are sons of light and sons of day; we are not of night nor of darkness.

⁶ So then do not let us sleep as the rest do, but let us watch and be sober;

⁷ for they that sleep sleep by night, and they that drink drink by night;

⁸ but *we* being of [the] day, let us be sober, putting on [the] breastplate of faith and love, and as helmet [the] hope of salvation;

⁹ because God has not set us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

¹⁰ who has died for us, that whether we may be watching or sleep, we may live together with him.

¹¹ Wherefore encourage one another, and build up each one the other, even as also ye do.

¹⁴ For [it is] as [if] a man going away out of a country called his own bondmen and delivered to them his substance.

¹⁵ And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to each according to his particular ability, and immediately went away out of the country.

¹⁶ And he that had received the five talents went and trafficked with them, and made five other talents.

¹⁷ In like manner also he that [had received] the two, [he also] gained two others.

¹⁸ But he that had received the one went and dug in the earth, and hid the money of his lord.

¹⁹ And after a long time the lord of those bondmen comes and reckons with them.

²⁰ And he that had received the five talents came to [him] and brought five other talents, saying, [My] lord, thou deliveredst me five talents; behold, I have gained five other talents besides them.

²¹ His lord said to him, Well, good and faithful bondman, thou wast faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things: enter into the joy of thy lord.

²² And he also that had received the two talents came to [him] and said, [My] lord, thou deliveredst me two talents; behold, I have gained two other talents besides them.

²³ His lord said to him, Well, good and faithful bondman, thou wast faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

²⁴ And he also that had received the one talent coming to [him] said, [My] lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hadst not sowed, and gathering from where thou hadst not scattered,

²⁵ and being afraid I went away and hid thy talent in the earth; behold, thou hast that which is thine.

²⁶ And his lord answering said to him, Wicked and slothful bondman, thou knewest that I reap where I had not sowed, and gather from where I had not scattered;

²⁷ thou oughtest then to have put my money to the money-changers, and when I came I should have got what is mine with interest.

²⁸ Take therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that has the ten talents:

²⁹ for to every one that has shall be given, and he shall be in abundance; but from him that has not, that even which he has shall be taken from him.

³⁰ And cast out the useless bondman into the outer darkness; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.