Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Sad Complaint
A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah [C descendants of Kohath, son of Levi, who served as temple musicians; 1 Chr. 6:22]. For the director of music. By the ·mahalath [C perhaps “sickness”; Ps. 53] ·leannoth [C perhaps related to a word for “affliction” or a word for “chant”]. A ·maskil [skillful psalm; meditation] of Heman the Ezrahite [C perhaps a wise man (1 Kin. 4:31) or a Levitical singer (1 Chr. 6:16, 33, 39, 43–44; 15:17, 19)].
88 Lord, you are the God who ·saves me [gives me victory].
I cry out to you day and night.
2 Receive my prayer,
and ·listen [L extend your ear] to my cry.
3 My life is full of ·troubles [hurt; harm],
and ·I am nearly dead [L my life approaches/touches Sheol; C the grave or the underworld].
4 They think I am ·on the way to my grave [L like someone who goes down into the Pit].
I am like a man with no strength.
5 I have been ·left as dead [L freed among the dead],
like a ·body [corpse] lying in a grave
whom you don’t remember anymore,
cut off from your ·care [L hand].
6 You have ·brought me close to death [L set me in a Pit below];
·I am almost in the dark place of the dead [L …in the deepest darkness].
7 You have ·been very angry with [L put your wrath on] me;
·all your waves crush me [L you have afflicted me with all your breakers]. ·
8 You have ·taken [moved] my friends away from me
and have made ·them hate me [me an abomination to them].
I am ·trapped [imprisoned] and cannot ·escape [get out].
9 My eyes ·are weak [waste away] from ·crying [affliction].
Lord, I have ·prayed [called] to you every day;
I have ·lifted [spread out] my hands to you [C in prayer].
10 Do you ·show [L do] your ·miracles [wonderful acts] for the dead?
Do their ·spirits [shades; departed] rise up and ·praise [thank] you? ·
11 Will your ·love [loyalty] be ·told [recounted] in the grave?
Will your ·loyalty [faithfulness] be told in ·the place of death [L Abaddon/Destruction]?
12 Will your ·miracles [wonderful acts] be known in the ·dark grave [L darkness]?
Will your ·goodness [righteousness] be known in the land of forgetfulness?
13 But, Lord, I have called out to you for help;
every morning ·I pray to you [L my prayer comes before you].
14 Lord, why do you reject me?
Why do you hide your face from me?
15 I have been ·weak [afflicted] and dying since I was young.
I suffer from your terrors, and I am ·helpless [or depressed].
16 ·You have been angry with me [L Your wrath has passed over me],
and your terrors have ·destroyed [or silenced] me.
17 They surround me daily like ·a flood [water; C representing chaos];
they ·are [go] all around me.
18 You have ·taken away [removed me from] my loved ones and friends.
Darkness is my only friend.
Rules About a Woman’s Body
19 “‘When a woman has ·her monthly period [L a discharge of blood from her genitals/body], she is unclean [C in a ritual sense; the blood’s association with reproduction makes it holy; 15:16] for seven days; anyone who touches her will be unclean until evening. 20 Anything she lies on during this time will be unclean, and everything she sits on during this time will be unclean. 21 Anyone who touches her bed must wash his clothes and bathe in water; that person will be unclean until evening. 22 Anyone who touches something she has sat on must wash his clothes and bathe in water; that person will be unclean until evening. 23 It does not matter if the person touched the woman’s bed or something she sat on; he will be unclean until evening.
24 “‘If a man ·has sexual relations with a woman [lies with her] and her ·monthly period [discharge] touches him, he will be unclean [C in a ritual sense] for seven days; every bed he lies on will be unclean.
25 “‘If a woman has a ·loss [discharge] of blood for many days and it is not during her regular monthly period, or if she continues to have a ·loss [discharge] of blood after her regular period, she will be unclean [C in a ritual sense], as she is during her monthly period. She will be unclean for as long as she continues to bleed [Matt. 9:20; Mark 5:25; Luke 8:43]. 26 Any bed she lies on during all the time of her ·bleeding [discharge] will be like her bed during her regular monthly period. Everything she sits on will be unclean, as during her regular monthly period.
27 “‘Whoever touches those things will be unclean [C in a ritual sense] and must wash his clothes and bathe in water; he will be unclean until evening. 28 When the woman becomes clean from her ·bleeding [discharge], she must ·wait [L count] seven days, and after this she will be clean. 29 Then on the eighth day she must take two doves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. 30 The priest must offer one bird for a sin [or purification; 4:3] offering and the other for a whole burnt offering [1:1–17]. In this way the priest will make her clean so she can belong to the Lord again [L and make atonement for her].
31 “‘So you must warn the ·people [L sons; children] of Israel to stay separated from things that make them unclean [C in a ritual sense]. If you don’t warn the people, they might make my ·Holy Tent [Tabernacle] unclean, and then they would have to die!’”
Help for Fellow Christians
9 I really do not need to write you about this ·help [service; ministry] for ·God’s people [T the saints]. 2 [L For; Because] I know ·you want [your eagerness/willingness] to help. I have been ·bragging [boasting] about this to the ·believers in Macedonia [L Macedonians; 8:1], telling them that you in Achaia [C southern Greece; 1:1] have been ready to give since last year. And your ·desire to give [L zeal; enthusiasm] has ·made most of them ready to give also [L aroused/provoked the majority]. 3 But I am sending the brothers to you so that our ·bragging [boasting] about you in this matter will not be empty words. I want you to be ready, as I said you would be. 4 If any of the ·believers from Macedonia [L Macedonians] come with me and find that you are not ready, we will be ·ashamed [embarrassed; dishonored] that we were so sure of you. (And you will be ·ashamed [embarrassed; dishonored], too!) 5 So I thought I should ·ask [urge; encourage] these brothers to go to you before we do. They will finish getting in order the ·generous gift [blessing] you promised so it will be ready when we come. And it will be a ·generous gift [blessing]—not one ·that you did not want to give [required from you; grudgingly given].
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