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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with thematically matched Old and New Testament readings.
Duration: 1245 days
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
Version
Psalm 9:1-14

Psalm 9

Celebration of God’s Justice

For the choir director: according to Muth-labben.[a] A Davidic psalm.

I will thank Yahweh with all my heart;
I will declare all Your wonderful works.(A)
I will rejoice and boast about You;(B)
I will sing about Your name, Most High.(C)

When my enemies retreat,
they stumble and perish before You.(D)
For You have upheld my just cause;[b](E)
You are seated on Your throne as a righteous judge.(F)
You have rebuked the nations:(G)
You have destroyed the wicked;(H)
You have erased their name forever and ever.(I)
The enemy has come to eternal ruin;
You have uprooted the cities,
and the very memory of them has perished.(J)

But the Lord sits enthroned forever;(K)
He has established His throne for judgment.(L)
He judges the world with righteousness;
He executes judgment on the nations with fairness.(M)
The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
a refuge in times of trouble.(N)
10 Those who know Your name trust in You
because You have not abandoned
those who seek You, Yahweh.(O)

11 Sing to the Lord, who dwells in Zion;(P)
proclaim His deeds among the nations.(Q)
12 For the One who seeks an accounting
for bloodshed remembers them;(R)
He does not forget the cry of the afflicted.(S)

13 Be gracious to me, Lord;
consider my affliction at the hands of those who hate me.(T)
Lift me up from the gates of death,(U)
14 so that I may declare all Your praises.
I will rejoice in Your salvation(V)
within the gates of Daughter Zion.

Job 16:1-21

Job’s Reply to Eliphaz

16 Then Job answered:

I have heard many things like these.
You are all miserable comforters.(A)
Is there no end to your empty[a](B) words?
What provokes you that you continue testifying?
If you were in my place I could also talk like you.
I could string words together against you
and shake my head at you.
Instead, I would encourage you with my mouth,
and the consolation from my lips would bring relief.(C)

Even if I speak, my suffering is not relieved,
and if I hold back, what have I lost?
Surely He[b] has now exhausted me.
You have devastated my entire family.
You have shriveled me up[c]—it has become a witness;
My frailty rises up against me and testifies to my face.
His anger tears at me, and He harasses(D) me.
He gnashes His teeth at me.
My enemy pierces me with His eyes.
10 They open their mouths against me
and strike my cheeks with contempt;(E)
they join themselves together against me.
11 God hands me over to unjust men;[d]
He throws me into the hands of the wicked.
12 I was at ease, but He shattered me;
He seized me by the scruff of the neck
and smashed me to pieces.
He set me up as His target;(F)
13 His archers[e] surround me.
He pierces my kidneys without mercy
and pours my bile on the ground.
14 He breaks through my defenses again and again;[f]
He charges at me like a warrior.(G)

15 I have sewn sackcloth over my skin;
I have buried my strength[g] in the dust.(H)
16 My face has grown red with weeping,
and darkness(I) covers my eyes,
17 although my hands are free from violence(J)
and my prayer is pure.

18 Earth, do not cover my blood;
may my cry for help find no resting place.(K)
19 Even now my witness is in heaven,
and my advocate is in the heights!(L)
20 My friends scoff at me
as I weep before God.
21 I wish that someone might arbitrate
between a man and God(M)
just as a man pleads for his friend.

Matthew 24:45-51

Faithful Service to the Messiah

45 “Who then is a faithful and sensible slave,(A) whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give them food at the proper time?(B) 46 That slave whose master finds him working(C) when he comes will be rewarded. 47 I assure you: He will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But if that wicked slave says in his heart, ‘My master is delayed,’ 49 and starts to beat his fellow slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards,(D) 50 that slave’s master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. 51 He will cut him to pieces[a] and assign him a place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.