Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 51[a]
The Miserere: Prayer of Repentance
1 For the leader. A psalm of David, 2 when Nathan the prophet came to him after he had gone in to Bathsheba.(A)
I
3 Have mercy on me, God, in accord with your merciful love;
in your abundant compassion blot out my transgressions.
4 Thoroughly wash away my guilt;
and from my sin cleanse me.
5 For I know my transgressions;
my sin is always before me.(B)
6 Against you, you alone have I sinned;
I have done what is evil in your eyes
So that you are just in your word,
and without reproach in your judgment.(C)
7 Behold, I was born in guilt,
in sin my mother conceived me.[b](D)
8 Behold, you desire true sincerity;
and secretly you teach me wisdom.
9 Cleanse me with hyssop,[c] that I may be pure;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.(E)
10 You will let me hear gladness and joy;
the bones you have crushed will rejoice.
II
11 Turn away your face from my sins;
blot out all my iniquities.
12 A clean heart create for me, God;
renew within me a steadfast spirit.(F)
13 Do not drive me from before your face,
nor take from me your holy spirit.(G)
14 Restore to me the gladness of your salvation;
uphold me with a willing spirit.
15 I will teach the wicked your ways,
that sinners may return to you.
16 Rescue me from violent bloodshed, God, my saving God,
and my tongue will sing joyfully of your justice.(H)
17 Lord, you will open my lips;
and my mouth will proclaim your praise.
18 For you do not desire sacrifice[d] or I would give it;
a burnt offering you would not accept.(I)
19 My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a contrite, humbled heart, O God, you will not scorn.
III
Plagues. 58 If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which is written in this book, and to fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord, your God,(A) 59 (B)the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants wondrous calamities, severe and constant calamities, and malignant and constant sicknesses. 60 He will bring back upon you all the diseases of Egypt[a] which you dread, and they will cling to you. 61 Even any sickness or calamity not written in this book of the law, that too the Lord will bring upon you until you are destroyed. 62 You who were numerous as the stars of the heavens(C) will be left few in number, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord, your God.
Exile. 63 (D)Just as the Lord once took delight in making you prosper and grow, so will the Lord now take delight in ruining and destroying you, and you will be plucked out of the land you are now entering to possess. 64 The Lord will scatter you among all the peoples from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will serve other gods, of wood and stone, which you and your ancestors have not known. 65 Among these nations you will find no rest, not even a resting place for the sole of your foot, for there the Lord will give you an anguished heart and wearied eyes[b] and a trembling spirit. 66 Your life will hang in suspense and you will stand in dread both day and night, never sure of your life. 67 In the morning you will say, “Would that it were evening!” and in the evening you will say, “Would that it were morning!” because of the dread that your heart must feel and the sight that your eyes must see. 68 The Lord will send you back in ships to Egypt, by a route which I told you that you would never see again;(E) and there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.
69 These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant he made with them at Horeb.
III. Third Address
Chapter 29
Past Favors Recalled. 1 Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, You have seen with your own eyes all that the Lord did in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and to all his land,
17 “When the time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise that God pledged to Abraham, the people had increased and become very numerous in Egypt,(A) 18 until another king who knew nothing of Joseph came to power [in Egypt].(B) 19 He dealt shrewdly with our people and oppressed [our] ancestors by forcing them to expose their infants, that they might not survive. 20 At this time Moses was born, and he was extremely beautiful. For three months he was nursed in his father’s house;(C) 21 but when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.(D) 22 Moses was educated [in] all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and deeds.
23 (E)“When he was forty years old, he decided to visit his kinsfolk, the Israelites. 24 When he saw one of them treated unjustly, he defended and avenged the oppressed man by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He assumed [his] kinsfolk would understand that God was offering them deliverance through him, but they did not understand. 26 (F)The next day he appeared to them as they were fighting and tried to reconcile them peacefully, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you harming one another?’ 27 Then the one who was harming his neighbor pushed him aside, saying, ‘Who appointed you ruler and judge over us? 28 Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 Moses fled when he heard this and settled as an alien in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.(G)
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