Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
God’s Eternity and Human Frailty
A prayer of Moses, the man of God.[a]
90 O Lord, you have been our help[b] in all generations.[c]
2 Before the mountains were born
and you brought forth the earth and the world,
even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.
3 You return man to the dust,
saying,[d] “Return, O sons of man.”
4 For a thousand years in your eyes
are like yesterday when it passes,
or like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep them away like a flood.
They fall asleep.[e]
In the morning they are like grass that sprouts anew.
6 In the morning it blossoms and sprouts anew;
by evening it withers and dries up.
7 For we are brought to an end by your anger,
and we hasten off[f] by your wrath.
8 You have put our iniquities before you,
our hidden sins into the light of your countenance.
9 For all of our days dwindle away in your rage;
we complete our years like a sigh.
10 As for the days of our years, within them are seventy years
or if by strength eighty years, and their pride[a] is trouble and disaster,
for it passes quickly and we fly away.
11 Who knows the strength of your anger,
and your rage consistent with[b] the fear due you?
12 So teach us to number our days
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
10 Look! The day is coming; doom goes out, the staff blossoms, pride sprouts. 11 Violence has grown to become a staff of wickedness; none[a] from them will remain, and none[b] from their abundance nor from their wealth;[c] and prominence will not be among them. 12 The time has come, the day has arrived; let not the buyer rejoice, and let the seller not mourn, for anger is on all their multitude. 13 For the seller will not return to the merchandise while they are still alive,[d] for the vision is about all of its multitude; it will not change, and a man because of his guilt will not be able to hold onto his life. 14 They shall blow on the trumpet and prepare everything,[e] but there is no one going to the battle, for my anger is on all of their multitude. 15 The sword is outside,[f] and the plague and the famine are inside;[g] the one who is in the field will die by the sword, and the one who is in the city, famine and plague will devour him. 16 And if their survivors will escape, they will be on the mountains, like the doves of the valley, all of them groaning, each because of his guilt. 17 All of the hands will hang limp, and all of the knees will be wet with urine.[h] 18 And they will wear sackcloth, and horror will cover them, and on all of the faces will be shame, and baldness on all of their heads. 19 Their silver they will discard on the streets, and filth will be their gold; their silver and their gold will not be able to rescue them on the day of the wrath of Yahweh. They will not satisfy their hunger[i] and their stomachs they will not fill, for their guilt will be their[j] stumbling block.
Judgment for the Profanation of the Temple and Sanctuary
20 “‘And the beauty of its[k] ornament he made into a prideful thing[l] and made with it their detestable things and their vile idols; therefore I will make it into an impure thing for them. 21 And I will give it into the hand of strangers as plunder and to the wicked people of the earth as spoil, and they will defile it. 22 And I will turn my face from them, and they will defile my treasured place, and violent ones will enter and defile it. 23 Make a chain for the land; it is full of bloody crimes[m] and the city is full of violence. 24 And I will bring the worst of the nations, and they will take possession of their houses, and I will put to an end the pride of the mighty ones, and their sanctuaries will be defiled. 25 Anguish comes, and they will seek peace, and there will be none. 26 Calamity upon calamity will come, and rumor will be upon rumor. And they will seek a vision from a prophet, but instruction will perish from the priest and counsel from the elders. 27 The king will mourn, and the prince will be dressed with despair, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. According to their way I will do to[n] them, and according to their judgments I will judge them, and they will know that I am Yahweh.’”
An Unclean Spirit Returns
43 “Now whenever an unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it travels through waterless places searching for rest, and does not find it.[a] 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came out.’ And when it[b] arrives it finds the house[c] unoccupied and swept and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings along with itself seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and[d] live there. And the last state of that person becomes worse than the first. So it will be for this evil generation also!”
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