Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Prayer for Mercy in Time of Trouble.
To the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments, set [possibly] an octave below. A Psalm of David.
6 O Lord, do not rebuke or punish me in Your anger,
Nor discipline me in Your wrath.
2
Have mercy on me and be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am weak (faint, frail);
Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are dismayed and anguished.
3
My soul [as well as my body] is greatly dismayed.
But as for You, O Lord—how long [until You act on my behalf]?
4
Return, O Lord, rescue my soul;
Save me because of Your [unfailing] steadfast love and mercy.
5
For in death there is no mention of You;
In Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) who will praise You and give You thanks?
6
I am weary with my groaning;
Every night I soak my bed with tears,
I drench my couch with my weeping.
7
My eye grows dim with grief;
It grows old because of all my enemies.
8
Depart from me, all you who do evil,
For the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping.(A)
9
The Lord has heard my supplication [my plea for grace];
The Lord receives my prayer.
10
Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly horrified;
Let them turn back, let them suddenly be ashamed [of what they have done].
16
“And now my soul is poured out within me;
The days of affliction have seized me.
17
“My bones are pierced [with aching] in the night season,
And the pains that gnaw me take no rest.
18
“By the great force [of my disease] my garment (skin) is disfigured and blemished;
It binds about me [choking me] like the collar of my coat.
19
“God has cast me into the mire [a swampland of crisis],
And I have become [worthless] like dust and ashes.
20
“I cry to You for help, [Lord,] but You do not answer me;
I stand up, but You [only] gaze [indifferently] at me.
21
“You have become harsh and cruel to me;
With the might of Your hand You [keep me alive only to] persecute me.
22
“You lift me up on the wind and cause me to ride [upon it];
And You toss me about in the tempest and dissolve me in the storm.
23
“For I know that You will bring me to death
And to the house of meeting [appointed] for all the living.
24
“However, does not one falling in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand?
Or in his disaster [will he not] therefore cry out for help?
25
“Did I not weep for one whose life was hard and filled with trouble?
Was not my heart grieved for the needy?
26
“When I expected good, then came evil [to me];
And when I waited for light, then came darkness.
27
“I am seething within and my heart is troubled and cannot rest;
Days of affliction come to meet me.
28
“I go about mourning without comfort [my skin blackened by disease, not by the heat of the sun];
I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help.
29
“I am a brother to [howling] jackals,
And a companion to ostriches [which scream dismally].
30
“My skin falls from me in blackened flakes,
And my bones are burned with fever.
31
“Therefore my lyre (harp) is used for [the sound of] mourning,
And my flute for the [sound of the] voices of those who weep.
Healing a Nobleman’s Son
46 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. And there was a [a]certain royal official whose son was sick in Capernaum. 47 Having heard that Jesus had come back from Judea to Galilee, he [b]went to meet Him and began asking Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you [people] see [miraculous] signs and wonders, you [simply] will not believe.” 49 The royal official pleaded with Him, “Sir, do come down [at once] before my child dies!” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son lives!” The man believed what Jesus said to him and started home. 51 As he was already going down [the road], his servants met him and reported that his son was living [and was healthy]. 52 So he asked them at what time he began to get better. They said, “Yesterday during the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 Then the father realized that it was at that very hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son lives”; and he and his entire household believed and confidently trusted [in Him as Savior]. 54 This is the second sign (attesting miracle) that Jesus performed [in Cana] after He had come from Judea to Galilee [revealing that He is the Messiah].
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