Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
God Is the Strength of My Heart
Psalm 73
1 A psalm of Asaph.
Surely God is good to Israel,
to the pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet almost slipped.
My steps nearly slid out from under me.
3 For I envied the arrogant,
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For there are no pains at their death,
their body is healthy.
5 They have none of humanity’s trouble,
nor are they plagued like others.
6 Therefore, they put on pride as a necklace,
and violence wraps around them like a garment.
7 Their eyes bulge out from fatness.
The imaginations of their hearts run wild.
8 They scoff and wickedly plan evil.
From on high they threaten.
9 They set their mouth against heaven.
Their tongue struts through the earth.
10 Therefore His people return here,
while they drink their fill.
11 So they say: “How does God know?
And does Elyon have knowledge?”
12 Behold, such are the wicked—
always at ease and amassing wealth.
13 Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure,
and washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all day I have been stricken,
my chastisement comes every morning.
15 If I had said: “I will speak thus,”
surely I would have betrayed a generation of Your children.
16 But when I tried to make sense of this,
it was troubling in my eyes—
17 until I entered the Sanctuary of God,
and perceived their end.
18 Surely You put them in slippery places.
You hurled them down to destruction.
19 How suddenly they became a ruin—
terminated, consumed by terrors.
20 Like a dream when one awakes,
thus when You arise, my Lord,
You will despise their form.
21 When my heart was embittered
and I was pierced in my heart,
22 I was brutish and ignorant.
I was like a beast before You.
23 Yet I am continually with You.
You hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with Your counsel,
and afterward You will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but You?
On earth there is none I desire besides You.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
27 For behold, those far from You will perish.
You put an end to all who like a harlot are unfaithful to You.
28 But for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made my Lord Adonai my refuge.
So I will tell of all Your works.
Nineveh Repents
3 Now the word of Adonai came to Jonah a second time, saying, 2 “Rise and go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry out to it the proclamation that I am telling you.”
3 So Jonah rose and went to Nineveh according to the word of Adonai. Now Nineveh was a great city to God—the length of a three day journey. 4 So Jonah began to come into the city for one day’s journey, and he cried out saying: “Another forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown!”
5 Then the people of Nineveh believed God and called for a fast and wore sackcloth—from the greatest of them to the least of them. 6 When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his robe, covered himself in sackcloth, and sat in the ashes. 7 He made a proclamation saying:
“In Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles, no man or beast, herd or flock, may taste anything. They must not graze nor drink water. 8 But cover man and beast with sackcloth. Let them cry out to God with urgency. Let each one turn from his evil way and from the violence in his hands. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent, and turn back from his burning anger, so that we may not perish.”
10 When God saw their deeds—that they turned from their wicked ways—God relented from the calamity that He said He would do to them, and did not do it.
8 But don’t forget this one thing, loved ones, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. [a] 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some consider slowness.[b] Rather, He is being patient toward you—not wanting anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.[c] On that day the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will melt and disintegrate, and the earth and everything done on it shall be exposed. 11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what kind of people should you be? Live your lives in holiness and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God. In that day the heavens will be dissolved by fire, and the elements will melt in the intense heat. [d] 13 But in keeping with His promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.[e]
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.