Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
What Is the Measure of My Days?
To the choirmaster: to (A)Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
39 I said, “I will (B)guard my ways,
that I (C)may not sin with my tongue;
I will (D)guard my mouth with a muzzle,
so long as the wicked are in my presence.”
2 I was (E)mute and silent;
I held my peace to no avail,
and my distress grew worse.
3 My (F)heart became hot within me.
As I mused, the fire burned;
then I spoke with my tongue:
4 “O Lord, (G)make me know my end
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting I am!
5 Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths,
and (H)my lifetime is as nothing before you.
Surely (I)all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah
6 Surely a man (J)goes about as a shadow!
Surely for nothing[a] they are in turmoil;
man (K)heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!
7 “And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?
(L)My hope is in you.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions.
(M)Do not make me the scorn of the fool!
9 (N)I am mute; I do not open my mouth,
(O)for it is you who have done it.
10 (P)Remove your stroke from me;
I am spent by the hostility of your hand.
11 When you discipline a man
with (Q)rebukes for sin,
you (R)consume like a (S)moth what is dear to him;
(T)surely all mankind is a mere breath! Selah
The Broken Covenant
11 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 (A)“Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 3 You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: (B)Cursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant 4 that I commanded your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, (C)from the iron furnace, saying, (D)Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you. (E)So shall you be my people, and I will be your God, 5 (F)that I may confirm the oath that I swore to your fathers, (G)to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day.” Then I answered, “So be it, Lord.”
6 And the Lord said to me, (H)“Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: (I)Hear the words of this covenant and do them. 7 For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, (J)warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, (K)Obey my voice. 8 (L)Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, (M)but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all (N)the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.”
9 Again the Lord said to me, (O)“A conspiracy exists among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 They have turned back to (P)the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words. (Q)They have gone after other gods to serve them. (R)The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their fathers. 11 Therefore, thus says the Lord, Behold, I am bringing disaster upon them that they cannot escape. (S)Though they cry to me, I will not listen to them. 12 Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem (T)will go and cry to the gods to whom they make offerings, (U)but they cannot save them in the time of their trouble. 13 (V)For your gods have become as many as your cities, O Judah, and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to shame, (W)altars to make offerings to Baal.
14 “Therefore (X)do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, (Y)for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble. 15 (Z)What right has my beloved in my house, (AA)when she has done many vile deeds? Can even sacrificial flesh avert your doom? (AB)Can you then exult? 16 The Lord once called you (AC)‘a green olive tree, beautiful with good fruit.’ But (AD)with the roar of a great tempest he will set fire to it, and (AE)its branches will be consumed. 17 The Lord of hosts, (AF)who planted you, has decreed disaster against you, because of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done, (AG)provoking me to anger by making offerings to Baal.”
God's Righteous Judgment
2 Therefore you have (A)no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For (B)in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. 2 We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 3 Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you presume on (C)the riches of his kindness and (D)forbearance and (E)patience, (F)not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are (G)storing up (H)wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.
6 (I)He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who (J)by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking[a] and (K)do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 9 There will be tribulation and distress (L)for every human being who does evil, the Jew (M)first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and (N)peace for everyone who does good, (O)the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For (P)God shows no partiality.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.