Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Sad Complaint
A song of the sons of Korah. For the director of music. By the mahalath leannoth. A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.
88 Lord, you are the God who saves me.
I cry out to you day and night.
2 Accept my prayer.
Listen to my cry.
3 My life is full of troubles.
I am nearly dead.
4 They think I am on the way to my grave.
I am like a man with no strength.
5 I have been left as dead,
like a body lying in a grave.
You don’t remember dead people.
They are cut off from your care.
6 You have brought me close to death.
I am almost in the dark place of the dead.
7 You have been very angry with me.
All your waves crush me. Selah
8 You have taken my friends away from me.
You have made them hate me.
I am trapped and cannot escape.
9 My eyes are weak from crying.
Lord, I have prayed to you every day.
I have lifted my hands in prayer to you.
10 Do you show your miracles for the dead?
Do their spirits rise up and praise you? Selah
11 Will your love be told in the grave?
Will your loyalty be told in the place of death?
12 Will your miracles be known in the dark grave?
Will your goodness be known in the land where the dead are forgotten?
13 But, Lord, I have called out to you for help.
Every morning I pray to you.
14 Lord, why do you reject me?
Why do you hide from me?
15 I have been weak and dying since I was young.
I suffer from your terrors, and I am helpless.
16 You have been angry with me.
Your terrors have destroyed me.
17 They surround me daily like a flood.
They are all around me.
18 You have taken away my loved ones and friends.
Darkness is my only friend.
Rules About a Woman’s Body
19 “‘When a woman has her monthly period, she is unclean for seven days. Anyone who touches her will be unclean until evening. 20 Anything she lies on during this time will be unclean. Everything she sits on during that time will be unclean. 21 Anyone who touches her bed must wash his clothes and bathe in water. That person will be unclean until evening. 22 Anyone who touches something she has sat on must wash his clothes and bathe in water. That person will be unclean until evening. 23 It does not matter if the person touched the woman’s bed or something she sat on. That person will be unclean until evening.
24 “‘A man might have physical relations with a woman during her monthly period. If he does, he will be unclean for seven days. Every bed he lies on will also be unclean.
25 “‘A woman might have a loss of blood for many days. It may not be during her regular monthly period. Or she may continue to have a loss of blood after her regular period. If she does, she will be unclean, as she is during her monthly period. She will be unclean for as long as she continues to bleed. 26 Any bed she lies on during all the time of her bleeding will be like her bed during her regular monthly period. Everything she sits on will be unclean. It will be like during her regular monthly period.
27 “‘If anyone touches those things, that person will be unclean. He must wash his clothes and bathe in water. He will be unclean until evening. 28 When the woman becomes clean from her bleeding, she must wait seven days. After this she will be clean. 29 Then on the eighth day she must take two doves or two young pigeons. She must bring them to the priest at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. 30 Then the priest must offer one bird for a sin offering. He must offer the other bird for a whole burnt offering. So the priest will make her clean so she can belong to the Lord again.
31 “‘So you must warn the people of Israel to stay separated from things that make them unclean. If you don’t warn the people, they might make my Holy Tent unclean. And then they would have to die!’”
Help for Fellow Christians
9 I really do not need to write to you about this help for God’s people. 2 I know that you want to help. I have been bragging about this to the people in Macedonia. I have told them that you in Southern Greece have been ready to give since last year. And your wanting to give has made most of them here ready to give also. 3 But I am sending the brothers to you. I do not want our bragging about you in this to be for nothing. I want you to be ready, as I said you would be. 4 If any of the people from Macedonia come with me and find that you are not ready, we will be ashamed. We will be ashamed that we were so sure of you. (And you will be ashamed, too!) 5 So I thought that I should ask these brothers to go to you before we come. They will finish getting in order the gift you promised. Then the gift will be ready when we come, and it will be a gift you wanted to give—not a gift that you hated to give.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.