Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 6
A Prayer for Mercy
For the choir director: with stringed instruments, according to Sheminith.(A) A Davidic psalm.
1 Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger;
do not discipline me in Your wrath.(B)
2 Be gracious to me, Lord, for I am weak;[a](C)
heal me,(D) Lord, for my bones are shaking;(E)
3 my whole being is shaken with terror.(F)
And You, Lord—how long?(G)
4 Turn, Lord! Rescue me;
save me because of Your faithful love.(H)
5 For there is no remembrance of You in death;
who can thank You in Sheol?(I)
Israel’s Moral Decline
7 How sad for me!
For I am like one who—
when the summer fruit has been gathered
after the gleaning of the grape harvest(A)—
finds no grape cluster to eat,
no early fig, which I crave.(B)
2 Godly people have vanished from the land;(C)
there is no one upright among the people.(D)
All of them wait in ambush to shed blood;(E)
they hunt each other with a net.(F)
3 Both hands are good(G) at accomplishing evil:
the official and the judge demand a bribe;(H)
when the powerful man communicates his evil desire,
they plot it together.
4 The best of them is like a brier;(I)
the most upright is worse than a hedge of thorns.(J)
The day of your watchmen,
the day of your punishment, is coming;(K)
at this time their panic is here.(L)
5 Do not rely on a friend;(M)
don’t trust in a close companion.
Seal your mouth
from the woman who lies in your arms.
6 Surely a son considers his father a fool,(N)
a daughter opposes her mother,
and a daughter-in-law is against her mother-in-law;
a man’s enemies are the men of his own household.
7 But I will look to the Lord;(O)
I will wait for the God of my salvation.(P)
My God will hear me.(Q)
The Letters to the Seven Churches
The Letter to Ephesus
2 “Write to the angel[a] of the church in Ephesus:
“The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand and who walks among the seven gold lampstands says: 2 I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil. You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars. 3 You also possess endurance and have tolerated many things because of My name and have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you[b] and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent. 6 Yet you do have this: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 “Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. I will give the victor(A) the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in[c] God’s paradise.(B)
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.