Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 38
A Psalm of David. To bring remembrance.
1 O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your wrath,
nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure.
2 For Your arrows pierce me,
and Your hand presses down on me.
3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation,
nor is there health in my bones because of my sin.
4 For my iniquities have passed over my head;
as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
5 My wounds grow foul and fester
because of my foolishness.
6 I am bent, I am bowed down greatly;
I go mourning all the day long.
7 For my sides are filled with burning,
and there is no soundness in my flesh.
8 I am numb and completely crushed;
I have roared because of the groaning of my heart.
9 Lord, all my desire is before You,
and my sighing is not hidden from You.
10 My heart throbs, my strength fails me;
as for the light of my eyes, it also is gone from me.
11 My friends and my companions stand back because of my affliction,
and those close to me stand at a distance.
12 The people who seek my life strike at me;
those who seek my harm speak destruction,
and plan treacheries all the day long.
13 But I, like a deaf man, did not hear;
and like a dumb man, did not open my mouth.
14 Thus I was as a man who does not hear,
and in whose mouth are no reproofs.
15 For in You, O Lord, do I hope;
You will answer, O Lord my God.
16 For I said, “Lest otherwise they should rejoice over me.
When my foot slips, they magnify themselves against me.”
17 For I am ready to stumble,
and my pain is continually before me.
18 For I will declare my iniquity;
I am anxious because of my sin.
19 But my enemies are lively, and they are strong;
and those who wrongfully hate me are many.
20 Those also who repay evil for good are my adversaries,
because I pursue good.
21 Do not abandon me, O Lord;
O my God, do not be far from me.
22 Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation.
The Mountain of the Lord(A)
4 Then it will be that in the latter days,
the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established
as head of the mountains,
and will be lifted up above the hills;
and people will stream to it.
2 And many nations will come and say,
“Come, that we might go up to the mountain of the Lord,
and to the house of the God of Jacob,
that He might teach us His ways,
and that we might walk in His paths.”
For from Zion will go forth the law,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
3 Then He will judge between many peoples
and mediate for mighty nations far and wide;
they will beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
and they will no longer train for war.
4 Then each man will sit under his vine
and under his fig tree,
and no one will make them afraid;
for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken.
5 For all the peoples may walk,
each in the name of his God,
but we will walk in the name of the Lord
our God forever and ever.
The Promise of Restoration
6 In that day, declares the Lord,
I will assemble the lame
and gather the banished
and those whom I have afflicted;
7 and I will make the lame into a remnant,
and the banished into a mighty nation;
and the Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion
from this time forth and forevermore.
Salutation
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul’s Thanksgiving After Affliction
3 Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble by the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective in enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. 7 Our hope for you is steadfast, knowing that as you partake in the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.
8 For we would not, brothers, have you ignorant of our troubles which came to us in Asia. We were pressured beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. 9 We had the sentence of death in ourselves, so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from so great a death and does deliver us. In Him we trust that He will still deliver us, 11 as you help together by praying for us, so that thanks may be given by many on our behalf for the gift bestowed upon us by means of many persons.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.