Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 88
A song. A psalm of the Korahites. For the music leader. According to “Mahalath Leannoth.”[a] A maskil[b] of Heman the Ezrahite.
88 Lord, God of my salvation,
by day I cry out,
even at night, before you—
2 let my prayer reach you!
Turn your ear to my outcry
3 because my whole being[c] is filled with distress;
my life is at the very brink of hell.[d]
4 I am considered as one of those plummeting into the pit.
I am like those who are beyond help,
5 drifting among the dead,
lying in the grave, like dead bodies—
those you don’t remember anymore,
those who are cut off from your power.
6 You placed me down in the deepest pit,
in places dark and deep.
7 Your anger smothers me;
you subdue me with it, wave after wave. Selah
8 You’ve made my friends distant.
You’ve made me disgusting to them.
I can’t escape. I’m trapped!
9 My eyes are tired of looking at my suffering.
I’ve been calling out to you every day, Lord—
I’ve had my hands outstretched to you!
10 Do you work wonders for the dead?
Do ghosts rise up and give you thanks? Selah
11 Is your faithful love proclaimed in the grave,
your faithfulness in the underworld?[e]
12 Are your wonders known in the land of darkness,
your righteousness in the land of oblivion?
13 But I cry out to you, Lord!
My prayer meets you first thing in the morning!
14 Why do you reject my very being, Lord?
Why do you hide your face from me?
15 Since I was young I’ve been afflicted, I’ve been dying.
I’ve endured your terrors. I’m lifeless.
16 Your fiery anger has overwhelmed me;
your terrors have destroyed me.
17 They surround me all day long like water;
they engulf me completely.
18 You’ve made my loved ones and companions distant.
My only friend is darkness.
Female genital emissions
19 Whenever a woman has a discharge of blood that is her normal bodily discharge, she will be unclean due to her menstruation for seven days. Anyone who touches her will be unclean until evening. 20 Anything on which she lies or sits during her menstruation will be unclean. 21 Anyone who touches her bed must wash their clothes, bathe in water, and will be unclean until evening. 22 Anyone who touches anything on which she has sat must wash their clothes, bathe in water, and will be unclean until evening. 23 Whenever anyone touches something—whether it was on the bed or where she has been sitting—they will be unclean until evening. 24 If a man has sexual intercourse with her and her menstruation gets on him, he will be unclean for seven days. Any bed he lies on will be unclean.
25 Whenever a woman has a bloody discharge for a long time, which is not during her menstrual period, or whenever she has a discharge beyond her menstrual period, the duration of her unclean discharge will be like the period of her menstruation; she will be unclean.
26 Any bed she lies on during the discharge should be treated like the bed she uses during her menstruation; and any object she sits on will be unclean, as during her menstruation. 27 Anyone who touches these things will be unclean. They must wash their clothes, bathe in water, and will be unclean until evening.
28 When the woman is cleansed of her discharge, she will count off seven days; after that, she will be clean again. 29 On the eighth day she will take two turtledoves or two pigeons and bring them to the priest at the meeting tent’s entrance. 30 The priest will perform a purification offering with one and an entirely burned offering with the other. In this way, the priest will make reconciliation for her before the Lord because of her unclean discharge.
31 You must separate the Israelites from their uncleanness so that they don’t die on account of it, by making my dwelling[a] unclean, which is in their midst.
9 It’s unnecessary for me to write to you about this service for God’s people. 2 I know about your willingness to help. I brag about you to the Macedonians, saying, “Greece has been ready since last year,” and your enthusiasm has motivated most of them.
3 But I’m sending the brothers so that our bragging about you in this case won’t be empty words, and so that you can be prepared, just as I keep telling them you will be. 4 If some Macedonians should come with me and find out that you aren’t ready, we (not to mention you) would be embarrassed as far as this project goes.
5 This is why I thought it was necessary to encourage the brothers to go to you ahead of time and arrange in advance the generous gift you have already promised. I want it to be a real gift from you. I don’t want you to feel like you are being forced to give anything.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible