Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 53[a]
A Lament over Widespread Corruption
1 For the leader; according to Mahalath. A maskil of David.
I
2 The fool says in his heart,(A)
“There is no God.”(B)
They act corruptly and practice injustice;
there is none that does good.
3 God looks out from the heavens
upon the children of Adam,(C)
To see if there is a discerning person(D)
who is seeking God.
4 All have gone astray;
each one is altogether perverse.
There is not one who does what is good, not even one.(E)
II
5 (F)Do they not know better, those who do evil,
who feed upon my people as they feed upon bread?(G)
Have they not called upon God?
6 They are going to fear his name with great fear,
though they had not feared it before.
For God will scatter the bones
of those encamped against you.
They will surely be put to shame,
for God has rejected them.
III
7 Who will bring forth from Zion
the salvation of Israel?
When God reverses the captivity of his people
Jacob will rejoice and Israel will be glad.(H)
The Day of Atonement. 26 The Lord said to Moses: 27 Now the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement.[a](A) You will have a declared holy day. You shall humble yourselves and offer an oblation to the Lord. 28 On this day you shall not do any work, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the Lord, your God. 29 Those who do not humble themselves on this day shall be cut off from the people. 30 If anyone does any work on this day, I will remove that person from the midst of the people. 31 You shall do no work; this is a perpetual statute throughout your generations wherever you dwell; 32 it is a sabbath of complete rest for you. You shall humble yourselves. Beginning on the evening of the ninth of the month, you shall keep your sabbath from evening to evening.
The Feast of Booths. 33 The Lord said to Moses: 34 Tell the Israelites: The fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Lord’s feast of Booths,[b](B) which shall continue for seven days. 35 On the first day, a declared holy day, you shall do no heavy work. 36 For seven days you shall offer an oblation to the Lord, and on the eighth day you will have a declared holy day. You shall offer an oblation to the Lord. It is the festival closing. You shall do no heavy work.
37 [c]These, therefore, are the festivals of the Lord which you shall declare holy days, in order to offer as an oblation to the Lord burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and libations, as prescribed for each day, 38 in addition to the Lord’s sabbaths, your donations, your various votive offerings, and the voluntary offerings that you present to the Lord.
39 On the fifteenth day, then, of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord[d] for a whole week. The first and the eighth day shall be days of rest. 40 On the first day you shall gather fruit of majestic trees, branches of palms, and boughs[e] of leafy trees and valley willows. Then for a week you shall make merry before the Lord, your God. 41 You shall keep this feast of the Lord for one whole week in the year. By perpetual statute throughout your generations in the seventh month of the year, you shall keep it.
Chapter 19
1 After this I heard what sounded like the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying:
“Alleluia![a]
Salvation, glory, and might belong to our God,
2 for true and just are his judgments.
He has condemned the great harlot
who corrupted the earth with her harlotry.
He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”(A)
3 They said a second time:
“Alleluia! Smoke will rise from her forever and ever.”(B)
4 The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying, “Amen. Alleluia.”
The Victory Song.[b] 5 A voice coming from the throne said:
“Praise our God, all you his servants,
[and] you who revere him, small and great.”(C)
6 Then I heard something like the sound of a great multitude or the sound of rushing water or mighty peals of thunder, as they said:
“Alleluia!
The Lord has established his reign,
[our] God, the almighty.
7 Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory.
For the wedding day of the Lamb[c] has come,
his bride has made herself ready.(D)
8 She was allowed to wear
a bright, clean linen garment.”(E)
(The linen represents the righteous deeds of the holy ones.)[d]
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.