Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
BOOK IV
(Psalms 90–106)
Psalm 90
Eternal God and Mortal Man
A prayer of Moses, the man of God.
1 Lord, You have been our refuge[a]
in every generation.(A)
2 Before the mountains were born,
before You gave birth to the earth and the world,
from eternity to eternity, You are God.(B)
3 You return mankind to the dust,
saying, “Return, descendants of Adam.”(C)
4 For in Your sight a thousand years
are like yesterday that passes by,
like a few hours of the night.(D)
5 You end their lives;[b] they sleep.(E)
They are like grass that grows in the morning—
6 in the morning it sprouts and grows;
by evening it withers and dries up.(F)
9 For all our days ebb away under Your wrath;
we end our years like a sigh.(A)
10 Our lives last[a] seventy years
or, if we are strong, eighty years.
Even the best of them are[b] struggle and sorrow;
indeed, they pass quickly and we fly away.(B)
11 Who understands the power of Your anger?
Your wrath matches the fear that is due You.(C)
Prophecy against Israel’s Idolatry
6 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, turn your face toward the mountains of Israel(A) and prophesy against them. 3 You are to say: Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! This is what the Lord God says to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places.(B) 4 Your altars will be desolated and your incense altars smashed. I will throw down your slain in front of your idols. 5 I will lay the corpses of the Israelites in front of their idols and scatter your bones around your altars. 6 Wherever you live the cities will be in ruins and the high places will be desolate, so that your altars will lie in ruins and be desecrated,[a] your idols smashed and obliterated, your incense altars cut down, and your works wiped out. 7 The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am Yahweh.
8 “Yet I will leave a remnant when you are scattered among the nations, for throughout the countries there will be some of you who will escape the sword.(C) 9 Then your survivors will remember Me among the nations where they are taken captive,(D) how I was crushed by their promiscuous hearts that turned away from Me and by their eyes that lusted after their idols.(E) They will loathe themselves because of the evil things they did,(F) their detestable practices of every kind. 10 And they will know that I am the Lord; I did not threaten to bring this disaster on them without a reason.
Lament over the Fall of Jerusalem
11 “This is what the Lord God says: Clap your hands, stamp your feet,(G) and cry out over all the evil and detestable practices of the house of Israel, who will fall by the sword, famine, and plague.(H) 12 The one who is far off will die by plague; the one who is near will fall by the sword; and the one who remains and is spared[b] will die of famine. In this way I will exhaust My wrath on them.(I) 13 You will all know that I am Yahweh when their slain lie among their idols around their altars,(J) on every high hill,(K) on all the mountaintops, and under every green tree and every leafy oak—the places where they offered pleasing aromas to all their idols. 14 I will stretch out My hand against them,(L) and wherever they live I will make the land a desolate waste, from the wilderness to Diblah.[c] Then they will know that I am Yahweh.”
The First Bowl
16 Then I heard a loud voice from the sanctuary saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven[a] bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.” 2 The first went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and severely painful sores[b](A) broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image.
The Second Bowl
3 The second[c] poured out his bowl into the sea. It turned to blood like a dead man’s, and all life[d] in the sea died.(B)
The Third Bowl
4 The third[e] poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood.(C) 5 I heard the angel of the waters say:
You are righteous,
who is and who was,(D) the Holy One,
for You have decided these things.
6 Because they poured out
the blood of the saints and the prophets,
You also gave them blood to drink;
they deserve it!(E)
7 Then I heard someone from the altar say:
Yes, Lord God, the Almighty,
true and righteous are Your judgments.(F)
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