Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
BOOK 4
God’s Eternity and Man’s Transitoriness.
A Prayer of [a]Moses, the man of God.
90 Lord, You have been our [b](A)dwelling place in all generations.
2 Before (B)the mountains were born
[c]Or You (C)gave birth to the earth and the world,
Even (D)from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
3 You (E)turn man back into dust
And say, “Return, O children of men.”
4 For (F)a thousand years in Your sight
Are like (G)yesterday when it passes by,
[d]Or as a (H)watch in the night.
5 You (I)have [e]swept them away like a flood, they [f](J)fall asleep;
In the morning they are like (K)grass which [g]sprouts anew.
6 In the morning it (L)flourishes and [h]sprouts anew;
Toward evening it (M)fades and (N)withers away.
9 For (A)all our days have declined in Your fury;
We have finished our years like a [a]sigh.
10 As for the days of our [b]life, [c]they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, (B)eighty years,
Yet their pride is but (C)labor and sorrow;
For soon it is gone and we (D)fly away.
11 Who [d]understands the (E)power of Your anger
And Your fury, according to the (F)fear [e]that is due You?
10 ‘Behold, the day! Behold, it is coming! Your doom has gone forth; the (A)rod has budded, arrogance has blossomed. 11 Violence [a]has grown into a rod of (B)wickedness. None of them shall remain, none of their people, none of their (C)wealth, nor anything eminent among them. 12 The (D)time has come, the day has arrived. Let not the (E)buyer rejoice nor the seller mourn; for (F)wrath is against all their multitude. 13 Indeed, the seller will not [b](G)regain [c]what he sold as long as [d]they both live; for the vision regarding all their multitude will not [e]be averted, nor will any of them maintain his life by his iniquity.
14 ‘They have (H)blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but no one is going to the battle, for My wrath is against all [f]their multitude. 15 The (I)sword is outside and the plague and the famine are within. He who is in the field will die by the sword; famine and the plague will also consume those in the city. 16 Even when their survivors (J)escape, they will be on the mountains like (K)doves of the valleys, all of them [g](L)mourning, each over his own iniquity. 17 All (M)hands will hang limp and all knees will [h]become like water. 18 They will (N)gird themselves with sackcloth and (O)shuddering will overwhelm them; and shame will be on all faces and (P)baldness on all their heads. 19 They will (Q)fling their silver into the streets and their gold will become an abhorrent thing; their (R)silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. They cannot satisfy their [i]appetite nor can they fill their stomachs, for their iniquity has become an occasion of stumbling.
The Temple Profaned
20 They transformed the beauty of His ornaments into pride, and (S)they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things with it; therefore I will make it an abhorrent thing to them. 21 I will give it into the hands of the (T)foreigners as plunder and to the wicked of the earth as spoil, and they will profane it. 22 I will also turn My (U)face from them, and they will profane My secret place; then robbers will enter and profane it.
23 ‘(V)Make the chain, for the land is full of [j](W)bloody crimes and the city is (X)full of violence. 24 Therefore, I will bring the worst of the (Y)nations, and they will possess their houses. I will also make the (Z)pride of the strong ones cease, and their (AA)holy places will be profaned. 25 When anguish comes, they will seek (AB)peace, but there will be none. 26 (AC)Disaster will come upon disaster and (AD)rumor will be added to rumor; then they will seek a (AE)vision from a prophet, but the (AF)law will be lost from the priest and (AG)counsel from the elders. 27 The king will mourn, the prince will be (AH)clothed with horror, and the hands of the people of the land will [k]tremble. According to their conduct I will deal with them, and by their judgments I will judge them. And they will know that I am the Lord.’”
43 “(A)Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and (B)the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.