◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 130 (With you there is forgiveness); Deuteronomy 1:34-40 (The innocent enter the good land); 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 (What is mortal is swallowed up in life) (New Catholic Bible)

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June 9, 1967

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with thematically matched Old and New Testament readings.

Duration: 1245 days

Psalm 130

Psalm 130^[a]

Prayer for Pardon and Peace

¹A song of ascents.

Out of the depths^[b] I cry to you, O Lord;
²    O Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
    to my cries of supplication.^[c]
³If you, O Lord, kept a record of our sins,
    O Lord, who could stand^[d] upright?
⁴But with you there is forgiveness
    so that you may be revered.^[e]
⁵I wait for the Lord^[f] in anxious expectation;
    I place my hope in his word.
⁶My soul waits for the Lord
    more than watchmen wait for the dawn.
More than watchmen wait for the dawn^[g]
⁷^[h]let Israel wait for the Lord.
For with the Lord there is kindness,
    as well as plenteous redemption.
⁸He alone will redeem Israel
    from all its sins.

Footnotes

Psalm 130:1 This is the sixth of the seven Penitential Psalms (see Ps 6) and perhaps the psalm that has been most often recited down the centuries since the time when it became an invocation on behalf of the dead. It is both a prayer of sorrow and a hymn of hope. No other psalm reveals in so marvelous a way the mystery of God who forgives, reconciles, and redeems even those who abandon him. While wonderfully suitable for the deceased, it also befits anyone in the depths of sadness (e.g., Israel), for it makes hope rise for them like the dawn.
Because of the lofty plane on which it moves, this psalm does not need a transformation but only a greater profundity to become a Christian prayer. The parable of the Prodigal Son illustrates this perfectly (Lk 15).
Psalm 130:1 Depths: a metaphor of adversity (see Ps 69:2f, 15; Isa 51:10; Ezek 27:34), connoting alienation from God (see Jon 2:2-5) and approaching death.
Psalm 130:2 In his extremity, the psalmist appeals to the Lord, calling him by his proper name and so obliging him to answer his prayers and intervene. Although the reason for the distress is not indicated here, the petition implies that it is related to sin, and the next verse makes this point explicit.
Psalm 130:3 The unfortunate psalmist is well aware that the nature of his trouble is different from the depression of illness, homesickness, or persecution seen in some other psalms (e.g., Pss 6; 42; 69). It is guilt for sin, an evil that can cease only if God puts an end to the sins that cause the evil. Unless God granted pardon, no one could stand, i.e., pass through his judgment (see Ps 1:5) or enjoy the benefits of his presence (see Ps 24:3).
Psalm 130:4 God is full of forgiveness (see Dan 9:9; see also Pss 86:5; 103:3; Ex 34:7; 1 Jn 2:1f). And he is feared not only because of his great judgment and chastisement but also because of his great love in forgiving. The righteous respond with love and holy fear (see Deut 5:29; 1 Pet 1:17) as well as the desire not to offend him in the future (see Rom 2:4).
Psalm 130:5 After noting that God liberally dispenses pardon, the psalmist expresses in splendid phrases his desire (indeed his certitude) of seeing God come close to him soon to grant him pardon. The words I wait for the Lord indicate that the psalmist ardently desires God and seeks to draw near to him with all his might. In patient waiting, faith looks up to the Lord to grant his grace (see Lam 3:25f). In anxious expectation: literally, “My soul waits”: see note on Ps 6:4. His word: especially his covenant promises (see Pss 119:25, 28, 37, 42, 49, 65, 74, 81, 107, 114, 147) and his word of pardon.
Psalm 130:6 The psalmist waits for the Lord with much greater anticipation and certitude than watchmen wait for the dawn when they will be relieved of duty after guarding the city from night attacks (see Ps 127:1). More than watchmen wait for the dawn: by this twofold repetition after a fourfold expression of “hope” in the Lord, the psalmist succeeds in inculcating a true sense of longing, dependence, and assurance.
Psalm 130:7 Like the psalmist, crushed by miseries, Israel must also hope and wait for the Lord. Rich in grace (compassionate and saving love) and redemption (pardon), God will redeem Israel from all temporal and spiritual miseries; he will deliver the people from all their misfortunes and sins as he delivered them from Egypt once before. The word redemption, at first applied to the deliverance from slavery in Egypt (see Ex 12:27), later designates every type of liberation, every form of salvation (see Pss 25:20; 31:5; 44:27; Isa 43:14); here it signifies the profound liberation effected by the forgiveness of sins. The New Testament uses the word in the same sense—the redemption wrought by Christ (see Lk 2:38; Rom 3:24; Eph 1:7; Col 1:14; Rev 5:9). Kindness: see note on Ps 6:5.

Deuteronomy 1:34-40

³⁴When the Lord heard your words, he became angry and swore, ³⁵“Not one of these men from this evil generation will see the good land that I promised to give to your fathers ³⁶except for Caleb, the son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his children the land upon which he has set foot, for he has wholeheartedly followed the Lord.”

³⁷The Lord grew angry with me because of you and said, “You are not going to enter it either. ³⁸Joshua, the son of Nun, who assists you, will enter it. Encourage him, for he will bring Israel in to inherit it. ³⁹Furthermore, your children whom you said would be taken captive, those who do not yet know the difference between good and evil, they will enter it. I will give it to them, and they will take possession of it. ⁴⁰But as for you, turn back and set out toward the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea.”

2 Corinthians 5:1-5

Chapter 5

¹Now we know that if the earthly tent in which we live is destroyed, we have a dwelling prepared for us by God, a dwelling in the heavens, not made with human hands, that will be eternal. ²While we are in this earthly tent, we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling; ³for when we have put it on, we will not be naked.^[a]

⁴While we are enclosed in this earthly tent we groan, burdened because we do not wish to be stripped naked but rather to be further clothed, so that our mortal state may be swallowed up by immortality. ⁵God is the one who has prepared us for this destiny, and he has given us the Spirit as a pledge of this.

New Catholic Bible (NCB)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 130[a]

Prayer for Pardon and Peace

Footnotes

Chapter 5

Footnotes

Psalm 130^[a]