Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Cry for Help[a]
88 Lord God, my savior, I cry out all day,
and at night I come before you.
2 Hear my prayer;
listen to my cry for help!
3 So many troubles have fallen on me
that I am close to death.
4 I am like all others who are about to die;
all my strength is gone.[b]
5 I am abandoned among the dead;
I am like the slain lying in their graves,
those you have forgotten completely,
who are beyond your help.
6 You have thrown me into the depths of the tomb,
into the darkest and deepest pit.
7 Your anger lies heavy on me,
and I am crushed beneath its waves.
8 You have caused my friends to abandon me;
you have made me repulsive to them.
I am closed in and cannot escape;
9 my eyes are weak from suffering.
Lord, every day I call to you
and lift my hands to you in prayer.
10 Do you perform miracles for the dead?
Do they rise up and praise you?
11 Is your constant love spoken of in the grave
or your faithfulness in the place of destruction?
12 Are your miracles seen in that place of darkness
or your goodness in the land of the forgotten?
13 Lord, I call to you for help;
every morning I pray to you.
14 Why do you reject me, Lord?
Why do you turn away from me?
15 Ever since I was young, I have suffered and been near death;
I am worn out[c] from the burden of your punishments.
16 Your furious anger crushes me;
your terrible attacks destroy me.
17 All day long they surround me like a flood;
they close in on me from every side.
18 You have made even my closest friends abandon me,
and darkness is my only companion.
The Holiness of the Priests
21 The Lord commanded Moses to tell the Aaronite priests, “No priest is to make himself ritually unclean by taking part in the funeral ceremonies when a relative dies, 2 unless it is his mother, father, son, daughter, brother, 3 or unmarried sister living in his house. 4 He shall not make himself unclean at the death of those related to him by marriage.[a]
5 (A)“No priest shall shave any part of his head or trim his beard or cut gashes on his body to show that he is in mourning. 6 He must be holy and must not disgrace my name. He offers food offerings to me, and he must be holy. 7 A priest shall not marry a woman who has been a prostitute or a woman who is not a virgin or who is divorced; he is holy. 8 The people must consider the priest holy, because he presents the food offerings to me. I am the Lord; I am holy and I make my people holy. 9 If a priest's daughter becomes a prostitute, she disgraces her father; she shall be burned to death.
10 “The High Priest has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been consecrated to wear the priestly garments, so he must not leave his hair uncombed or tear his clothes to show that he is in mourning. 11-12 He has been dedicated to me and is not to make himself ritually unclean nor is he to defile my sacred Tent by leaving it and entering a house where there is a dead person, even if it is his own father or mother. 13 He shall marry a virgin, 14 not a widow or a divorced woman or a woman who has been a prostitute. He shall marry only a virgin from his own clan. 15 Otherwise, his children, who ought to be holy, will be ritually unclean. I am the Lord and I have set him apart as the High Priest.”
Titus and His Companions
16 How we thank God for making Titus as eager as we are to help you! 17 Not only did he welcome our request; he was so eager to help that of his own free will he decided to go to you. 18 With him we are sending the brother who is highly respected in all the churches for his work in preaching the gospel. 19 And besides that, he has been chosen and appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this service of love for the sake of the Lord's glory and in order to show that we want to help.
20 We are being careful not to stir up any complaints about the way we handle this generous gift. 21 (A)Our purpose is to do what is right, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of others.
22 So we are sending our brother with them; we have tested him many times and found him always very eager to help. And now that he has so much confidence in you, he is all the more eager to help. 23 As for Titus, he is my partner and works with me to help you; as for the other brothers who are going with him, they represent the churches and bring glory to Christ. 24 Show your love to them, so that all the churches will be sure of it and know that we are right in boasting about you.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.