Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Book IV—Psalms 90–106[a]
Psalm 90[b]
Prayer To Use Time Wisely
1 A prayer of Moses, the man of God.[c]
Lord, you have been our refuge
from generation to generation.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth
or the earth and the world came into existence,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You turn men back to dust,
saying, “Return,[d] you children of men.”
4 For to you a thousand years
are like a yesterday that has passed
or one of the watches of the night.[e]
5 You snatch them away like a dream;
they are like the grass of the field,[f]
6 which at dawn flourishes and is green
but by nightfall is withered and dry.
7 [g]We have been brought low by your anger
and overwhelmed with terror by your wrath.
8 You have not forgotten our iniquities;
our secret sins are clearly visible in your sight.
9 All our days pass away under your wrath;
our years are consumed like a sigh.
10 The span of our life numbers seventy years,
or perhaps eighty, if we have enough strength.
Most of them are marked by toil and emptiness;[a]
they pass swiftly, and then we fly away.
11 [b]Who understands the might of your anger
and rightly fears the power of your wrath?
12 Teach us to comprehend how few our days are
so that our hearts may be filled with wisdom.
Chapter 6
Against the Mountains of Israel. 1 This word of the Lord came to me: 2 Son of man, turn your face toward the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them. 3 Say: Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: Behold, I am going to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. 4 Your altars will be demolished and your incense stands will be shattered, and I will throw down your slain in front of your idols.
5 I will lay the corpses of the people of Israel in front of their idols, and I will scatter their bones all around your altars. 6 Wherever you live, your towns will be destroyed and your high places will be laid waste, your idols will be shattered and destroyed, your incense stands will be smashed, and all of the idols you have made will be obliterated. 7 As the slain will fall in your midst, you will know that I am the Lord.
8 However, among the nations I will spare some of you who will manage to escape the sword and be scattered throughout foreign lands. 9 Those of you who escape will remember me among the nations where you were carried away as captives—how I crushed their adulterous hearts for having deserted me and by their wanton eyes for lusting after idols. Then they will loathe themselves for all the evils that they have done with their abominable practices. 10 And they will know that I, the Lord, was not uttering a vain warning when I threatened to inflict this disaster upon them.
11 Thus says the Lord God: Clap your hands, stamp your feet, and cry, “Alas!” because of all the loathsome abominations of the house of Israel, for which the people will fall by the sword, famine, and pestilence. 12 Those who are far off will die of pestilence; those who are near will fall by the sword; any who survive and are spared will die of famine. Thus, I will exhaust my wrath upon them.
13 Then you will know that I am the Lord, when their slain lie among the idols around their altars, on every high hill, on every mountaintop, under every green tree, and under every leafy oak, wherever they offered sweet-smelling sacrifices to any of their idols. 14 I will stretch out my hand against them and reduce every place where they have settled to a desolate waste, from the desert to Riblah.[a] Then they will know that I am the Lord.
Chapter 16
The Seven Bowls of the Wrath of God.[a] 1 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple say to the seven angels, “Go forth and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”
2 The first angel went forth and poured out his bowl on the earth. Immediately, foul and malignant sores broke out on those who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped its image.[b]
3 [c]The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea. It turned to blood, like the blood of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died.
4 The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and the springs of water, and they turned to blood. 5 Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:
“You are just, O Holy One,
who are and who were,
in these your judgments.
6 For they have shed the blood
of the saints and the Prophets,
and you have given them blood to drink,
as they deserve.”
7 And I heard the altar respond:
“Yes, Lord God Almighty,
true and just are your judgments.”
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