Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
BOOK FOUR
Psalms 90–106
The Eternity of God, and Man’s Frailty
A Prayer (A)of Moses the man of God.
90 Lord, (B)You have been our [a]dwelling place in all generations.
2 (C)Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever You [b]had formed the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
3 You turn man to destruction,
And say, (D)“Return, O children of men.”
4 (E)For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it is past,
And like a watch in the night.
5 You carry them away like a flood;
(F)They are like a sleep.
In the morning (G)they are like grass which grows up:
6 In the morning it flourishes and grows up;
In the evening it is cut down and withers.
9 For all our days have passed away in Your wrath;
We finish our years like a sigh.
10 The days of our lives are seventy years;
And if by reason of strength they are eighty years,
Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow;
For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
11 Who knows the power of Your anger?
For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.
12 (A)So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom.
10 ‘Behold, the day!
Behold, it has come!
(A)Doom has gone out;
The rod has blossomed,
Pride has budded.
11 (B)Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness;
None of them shall remain,
None of their multitude,
None of [a]them;
(C)Nor shall there be wailing for them.
12 The time has come,
The day draws near.
‘Let not the buyer (D)rejoice,
Nor the seller (E)mourn,
For wrath is on their whole multitude.
13 For the seller shall not return to what has been sold,
Though he may still be alive;
For the vision concerns the whole multitude,
And it shall not turn back;
No one will strengthen himself
Who lives in iniquity.
14 ‘They have blown the trumpet and made everyone ready,
But no one goes to battle;
For My wrath is on all their multitude.
15 (F)The sword is outside,
And the pestilence and famine within.
Whoever is in the field
Will die by the sword;
And whoever is in the city,
Famine and pestilence will devour him.
16 ‘Those who (G)survive will escape and be on the mountains
Like doves of the valleys,
All of them mourning,
Each for his iniquity.
17 Every (H)hand will be feeble,
And every knee will be as weak as water.
18 They will also (I)be girded with sackcloth;
Horror will cover them;
Shame will be on every face,
Baldness on all their heads.
19 ‘They will throw their silver into the streets,
And their gold will be like refuse;
Their (J)silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them
In the day of the wrath of the Lord;
They will not satisfy their souls,
Nor fill their stomachs,
Because it became their stumbling block of iniquity.
20 ‘As for the beauty of his ornaments,
He set it in majesty;
(K)But they made from it
The images of their abominations—
Their detestable things;
Therefore I have made it
Like refuse to them.
21 I will give it as (L)plunder
Into the hands of strangers,
And to the wicked of the earth as spoil;
And they shall defile it.
22 I will turn My face from them,
And they will defile My secret place;
For robbers shall enter it and defile it.
23 ‘Make a chain,
For (M)the land is filled with crimes of blood,
And the city is full of violence.
24 Therefore I will bring the (N)worst of the Gentiles,
And they will possess their houses;
I will cause the pomp of the strong to cease,
And their holy places shall be (O)defiled.
25 [b]Destruction comes;
They will seek peace, but there shall be none.
26 (P)Disaster will come upon disaster,
And rumor will be upon rumor.
(Q)Then they will seek a vision from a prophet;
But the law will perish from the priest,
And counsel from the elders.
27 ‘The king will mourn,
The prince will be clothed with desolation,
And the hands of the common people will tremble.
I will do to them according to their way,
And according to what they deserve I will judge them;
Then they shall know that I am the Lord!’ ”
An Unclean Spirit Returns(A)
43 (B)“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, (C)he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. 44 Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; (D)and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.