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.
6 Then Adonai answered Job from the whirlwind:
7 “Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you will inform Me!
8 “Would you really annul My judgment?
Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?
9 Do you have an arm like God’s
and can you thunder with a voice like His?
10 Then adorn yourself in majesty and dignity;
clothe yourself in splendor and honor.
11 Scatter the fury of your anger.
Look at every proud personand bring him low;
12 look at everyone who is proud and humble him;
tread down the wicked where they stand.
13 Hide them together in the dust
bind their faces in the hidden place.
14 Then I—even I will acknowledge to you,
that your own right hand can save you!
Job Retracts
42 Job answered Adonai and said:
2 “I know You can do all things;
no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.
3 You ask, ‘Who is this,
who darkens counsel without knowledge?’
Surely I spoke without understanding,
things too wonderful for me which I did not know.
4 You said, ‘Hear now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you will inform Me.’
5 I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear;
but now my eye has seen You.
6 Therefore I despise myself,
and repent on dust and ashes.”
31 “Simon, Simon! Indeed, satan has demanded to sift you all like wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
33 But Simon said to Him, “Master, I am ready to go with You even to prison and to death!”
54 Then they seized Yeshua and led Him away and brought Him into the house of the kohen gadol. But Peter was following from a distance.
Denied Three Times
55 Now they had lit a fire in the center of the courtyard and sat down together, and Peter was sitting among them. 56 Then a servant girl saw him sitting at the fire. She looked straight at him and said, “This one was with Him too!”
57 But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I don’t know Him!”
58 A little later, another saw him and said, “You too are one of them.”
But Peter said, “Man, I am not!”
59 And about an hour later, another began to insist, saying, “Certainly this fellow was with Him, for he too is a Galilean!”
60 But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” And immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. 61 And the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, ‘Before the rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.’
62 And Peter went out and wept bitterly.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.