Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Incline Your Ear to My Cry
A Song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. For the choir director. According to Mahalath Leannoth. A [a]Maskil of Heman [b]the Ezrahite.
88 O Yahweh, the (A)God of my salvation,
I have (B)cried out by day and throughout the night before You.
2 Let my prayer (C)come before You;
(D)Incline Your ear to my cry of lamentation!
3 For my (E)soul has been saturated with calamities,
And (F)my life has reached Sheol.
4 I am counted among those who (G)go down to the pit;
I am like a man (H)without strength,
5 Released (I)among the dead,
Like the slain who lie in the grave,
Whom You remember no more,
And they are (J)cut off from Your hand.
6 You have put me in (K)the pit far below,
In (L)dark places, in the (M)depths.
7 Your wrath (N)lies upon me,
And You afflict me with (O)all Your breaking waves. [c]Selah.
8 You have removed (P)my acquaintances far from me;
You have set me as [d]an (Q)abomination to them;
I am (R)shut up and cannot go out.
9 My (S)eye has wasted away because of affliction;
I have (T)called upon You every day, O Yahweh;
I have (U)spread out my [e]hands to You.
10 Will You do wonders for the dead?
Will (V)the [f]departed spirits rise and praise You? Selah.
11 Will Your lovingkindness be recounted in the grave,
Your faithfulness in [g]Abaddon?
12 Will Your wonders be known in the (W)darkness?
And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
13 But as for me, O Yahweh, I have cried out (X)to You for help,
And (Y)in the morning my prayer comes before You.
14 O Yahweh, why (Z)do You reject my soul?
Why do You (AA)hide Your face from me?
15 I have been afflicted and (AB)about to breathe my last from my youth on;
I bear (AC)Your terrors; I am [h]overcome.
16 Your (AD)burning anger has passed over me;
Your horrors have [i](AE)destroyed me.
17 They have (AF)surrounded me (AG)like water all day long;
They have (AH)encompassed me altogether.
18 You have removed (AI)lover and friend far from me;
My acquaintances are in darkness.
The Holiness of the Priests
21 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them:
‘(A)No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his people, 2 (B)except for his [a]blood relatives who are nearest to him, his mother and his father and his son and his daughter and his brother, 3 also for his virgin sister, who is near to him [b]because she has had no husband; for her he may defile himself. 4 He shall not defile himself as a [c]relative by marriage among his people, and so profane himself. 5 (C)They shall not make any baldness on their heads (D)nor shave off the edges of their beards (E)nor make any cuts in their flesh. 6 They shall be holy to their God and (F)not profane the name of their God, for they bring near the offerings [d]to Yahweh by fire, (G)the food of their God; so they shall be holy. 7 (H)They shall not take a woman who is profaned by harlotry, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband; for he is holy to his God. 8 Therefore, you shall set him apart as holy, for he brings near (I)the food of your God; he shall be holy to you; for I Yahweh, who makes you holy, am holy. 9 (J)Also the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by harlotry, she profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire.
10 ‘And the priest who is the highest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and [e]who has been ordained to wear the garments, (K)shall not [f]uncover his head nor tear his clothes; 11 (L)nor shall he approach any dead person nor defile himself even for his father or his mother; 12 (M)nor shall he go out of the sanctuary nor profane the sanctuary of his God, for (N)the dedication of the anointing oil of his God is on him; I am Yahweh. 13 And he shall take a wife in her virginity. 14 (O)A widow or a divorced woman or one who is profaned by harlotry, these he may not take; but rather he shall take a virgin of his own people as a wife, 15 so that he will not profane his seed among his people; for I am Yahweh who makes him holy.’”
16 But [a](A)thanks be to God who (B)puts the same earnestness on your behalf in the heart of (C)Titus. 17 For he not only accepted our (D)plea, but being himself very earnest, he has gone out to you of his own accord. 18 And we have sent along with him (E)the brother whose praise in the things of the (F)gospel is throughout (G)all the churches. 19 (H)And not only this, but he has also been (I)appointed by the churches to travel with us in (J)this gracious work that is being ministered by us for the glory of the Lord Himself, and to show our (K)readiness, 20 [b]taking precaution lest anyone discredits us in our ministering of this generous gift, 21 for we (L)respect what is good, not only in (M)the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. 22 And we have sent with them our brother, whom we have often tested and found earnest in many things, but now even more earnest because of his great confidence in you. 23 As for (N)Titus, he is my (O)partner and fellow worker [c]among you; as for our (P)brothers, they are [d](Q)messengers of the churches, (R)a glory to Christ. 24 Therefore [e]openly before the churches, [f]show them the proof of your love and of our (S)reason for boasting about you.
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