Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 88
Darkness Is My Friend
The Headings
A song. A psalm. By the Sons of Korah.
For the choir director. According to mahalath leannoth.[a]
A maskil[b] of Heman the Ezrahite.
Opening Plea
1 O Lord, the God who saves me, by day I cry out.
At night I cry before you.
2 May my prayer come before you.
Turn your ear to my cry.
The Problem
3 Indeed, my soul has had its fill of troubles,
and my life has arrived at the grave.
4 I am treated like those who go down to the pit.
I am like someone without strength.
5 I am turned loose with the dead.
I am like the slain who lie in the grave,
like the ones you do not remember anymore,
like those who are cut off from your hand.
6 You have put me in the lowest pit,
in dark places, in the depths.
7 Your wrath presses against me. Interlude
You have battered me with all your breakers.
8 You have distanced my acquaintances from me.
You have made me repulsive to them.
I am shut in and I cannot get out.
9 My eyesight grows dim from affliction.
I call to you, O Lord, every day.
I spread out my hands to you.
The Darkness of Death
10 Is it for the dead that you do a miracle? Interlude
Do the spirits of the dead rise up and praise you?
11 Is your mercy declared in the tomb,
your faithfulness in decay?
12 Is your wonderful work known in the darkness?
Is your righteousness known in the land of forgetfulness?
13 But I cry to you, O Lord,
and in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 Why, O Lord, do you reject my soul?
Why do you hide your face from me?
15 I have been afflicted
and I have been close to death since my youth.
I have endured your terrors.
I am in despair.
16 Your rage has swept over me.
Your terrors have destroyed me.
17 All day long they surround me like water.
They have battered me completely.
18 You have distanced my loved one and friend from me.
My only friend is darkness.
19 When a woman has a discharge of blood from her flesh, her menstrual impurity[a] will last for seven days. Anyone who touches her will remain unclean until sunset. 20 Everything on which she lies during her monthly period is unclean, and everything on which she sits becomes unclean. 21 Anyone who touches her bed must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until sunset, 22 and anyone who touches anything on which she sat must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until sunset. 23 If the uncleanness is on the bed or on anything else on which she is sitting when he touches it, he will become unclean until sunset. 24 And if a man lies down with her, and her menstrual impurity comes in contact with him, he will be unclean for seven days. Any bed on which he lies will be unclean.
25 When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days besides during the time of her monthly period, or when she has a discharge that lasts longer than her monthly period, she will be unclean for as many days as her discharge continues, just as she is during her monthly period. 26 During her discharge any bed on which she lies is to be treated just like the bed during her monthly period, and every piece of furniture on which she sits will be unclean, as it would be during the impurity of her monthly period. 27 Anyone who touches them will become unclean. Any such people must wash their clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until sunset.
28 When she is cleansed from her discharge, she shall count off seven days, and after that she will be clean. 29 On the eighth day she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons for herself and bring them to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 30 The priest shall offer one dove as a sin offering and the other as a whole burnt offering. This is how the priest is to make atonement for her in the presence of the Lord, from the impurity of her discharge.
31 In this way you shall separate the people of Israel from their impurity, so that they do not die in their impurity because they defiled my dwelling place that is in their midst.
Christian Giving
9 It is really not necessary for me to write to you about the service to the saints, 2 because I know your eagerness. I am boasting about it on your behalf to the Macedonians, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year. Your zeal has stirred up many of them. 3 But I am sending the brothers so that our boasting on your behalf will not prove to be empty in this case, but that you will be prepared just as I have been saying. 4 Otherwise, if any Macedonians come along with me and find you unprepared, we (to say nothing of you) would be ashamed of this confidence.[a] 5 That is why I considered it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance, and to arrange ahead of time the expression of praise that you previously promised, so that it may be ready as an expression of praise, not of grudging selfishness.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.