◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 102:1-17 (Prayer for deliverance); Exodus 13:17-22 (God leads the way); Acts 7:17-40 (Stephen addresses the council) (New Catholic Bible)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with thematically matched Old and New Testament readings.

Duration: 1245 days

Psalm 102:1-17

Psalm 102^[a]

Prayer of an Exile

¹The prayer of one afflicted. When he is wasting away^[b] and pours out his anguish before the Lord.

²^[c]O Lord, give heed to my prayer;
    let my plea for help reach you.
³Do not conceal your face^[d] from my sight
    in the time of my distress.
Incline your ear to me;
    on the day when I call out to you, answer me speedily.
⁴For my days are fading away like smoke,
    and my bones are burning like live coals.
⁵My heart^[e] is stricken, withered like grass;
    I am too exhausted to eat my bread.
⁶As a result of my incessant groaning,
    I am now nothing more than skin and bones.
⁷I am like a pelican^[f] of the wilderness,
    like an owl among the ruins.
⁸I am sleepless^[g] and I moan
    like a lone sparrow on a rooftop.
⁹All day long my enemies revile me;^[h]
    those who rage against me use my name as a curse.
¹⁰^[i]I eat ashes as though they were bread,
    and I mingle tears with my drink.
¹¹Because of your indignation and wrath,
    you have raised me up only to cast me down.
¹²My days are like a lengthening shadow,
    and I am withering away like grass.
¹³^[j]But, you, O Lord, are enthroned forever,
    and your renown will endure for all generations.
¹⁴You will arise and show mercy to Zion,
    for it is time for you to have pity on her;
    the appointed time^[k] has come.
¹⁵For her stones are precious to your servants,
    and her dust causes them to weep.^[l]
¹⁶The nations will revere your name,^[m] O Lord,
    and all the kings of the earth will sing of your glory.
¹⁷For the Lord will rebuild Zion
    and reveal himself in all his glory.^[n]

Footnotes

Psalm 102:1 Known as the fifth of the seven Penitential Psalms (Pss 6; 32; 38; 51; 102; 130; 143), this psalm combines the lament of an afflicted person overwhelmed with pain and the prayer of the community of poor returned exiles waiting to be able to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, their holy city. It shows that humanity and the universe pass away, while God remains (vv. 12-13, 26, 28). This is the proof of the Lord’s power and the reason for their hopes.
It is also the reason for the hopes of Christians, since we know that in Jesus and in his Church, God has built an imperishable dwelling place for his people, a point emphasized by the Letter to the Hebrews (Heb 1:10-12) when it comments on verses 26-28 of this psalm.
Psalm 102:1 This superscription is unique, giving neither author nor liturgical or historical note; instead it assigns the prayer to a life situation—when one afflicted is close to giving up, i.e., wasting away (see Pss 61:3; 77:4; 142:4; 143:4).
Psalm 102:2 One day, possibly during a grave sickness, the psalmist reaches the bitter conclusion of the inconsistency of human life. And the supreme outrage is that all who see him attribute his sad state to punishment sent by God, for his prayer and repentance receive no answer. The poor man experiences the depths of anguish where everything is falling apart; he can do nothing except cry out to God.
Psalm 102:3 Conceal your face: see note on Ps 13:2.
Psalm 102:5 Heart: see note on Ps 4:8. Withered like grass: see note on Ps 90:5.
Psalm 102:7 Pelican: a bird that in Christian times became a symbol of Christ all alone in Gethsemane and of the Eucharist. The word is also translated as “owl.” Owl: a symbol of desolateness and destruction (see Isa 34:11, 15; Jer 50:39; Zep 2:14).
Psalm 102:8 I am sleepless: some translations omit the words: “and I moan.”
Psalm 102:9 Enemies revile me: see note on Ps 5:10; see also Ps 109:25. Use my name as a curse: his enemies point him out as an example of divine malediction, saying: “May you become as wretched as so-and-so.”
Psalm 102:10 The Israelites indicated their penance externally by covering their heads with ashes and uttering lamentation accompanied by copious tears. To obtain God’s pity, the sick psalmist does not hold back. He covers himself with such an abundance of ashes that they are interspersed with his food, and he gives way to so many tears that they mingle with his drink. All the same, he is inexorably on his way toward death.
Psalm 102:13 The people thus experience a time of scorn. Uprooted from their temple and their land, they are too overwhelmed by the loss of what they most cherish for them to think of revenge. They have recourse to God’s tender mercies. In their misfortune, they fall back on a single certitude—the goodness of the Lord. At once, hope of restoration begins shining forth, for “the appointed time has come” (v. 14)—so much so that they do not stop at imagining the sole reestablishment of Israel, but their perspective of renewed happiness embraces all humanity.
Psalm 102:14 Appointed time: the time established by God for judgment and salvation (see Ps 75:3; Ex 9:5; 2 Sam 24:15; Dan 11:27, 35).
Psalm 102:15 The psalmist intimates that Zion must be highly cherished by the Lord for she is so dear to his servants.
Psalm 102:16 See note on Ps 46:11. Name: see note on Ps 5:12.
Psalm 102:17 And reveal himself in all his glory: may also be translated as: “and thus appear in his glory” (see v. 16 and note on Ps 46:11; see also Isa 40:1-5). The ultimate fulfillment of this hope will occur in the “new Jerusalem” (see Rev 21).

Exodus 13:17-22

¹⁷When Pharaoh let the people leave, God did not guide them on the road through the land of the Philistines, even though it was shorter, for God thought, “Otherwise the people, seeing they would have to fight, may change their minds and return to Egypt.” ¹⁸God guided the people along the desert road toward the Red Sea. The children of Israel, well armed, left the land of Egypt.

¹⁹Moses took the bones of Joseph along with him, for Joseph had solemnly sworn the children of Israel, saying, “Surely God will come to visit you, and when he does you must carry away my bones.”

²⁰They left Succoth and camped in Etham on the edge of the desert. ²¹The Lord went before them as a pillar of cloud during the day to guide them on their way, and as a column of fire during the night to give them light, so that they could travel day and night. ²²During the day the pillar of cloud never disappeared from the sight of the people, nor did the column of fire during the night.

Acts 7:17-40

¹⁷“When the time of the promise that God had pledged to Abraham drew near, our people in Egypt had greatly increased in number. ¹⁸Then a new king came to power who had never heard of Joseph. ¹⁹He dealt treacherously with our people and forced our ancestors to abandon their infants so that they could not survive.

²⁰“It was at this time that Moses was born, who was pleasing to God. For three months he was nursed in his father’s house, ²¹but after he had been abandoned, the daughter of Pharaoh adopted him and brought him up as her own son. ²²Moses was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful both in word and in deed.

²³“When he was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow countrymen, the children of Israel. ²⁴When he saw one of them being maltreated, he went to his aid and avenged the victim by slaying the Egyptian. ²⁵He thought that his brethren would realize that God was offering them deliverance through him, but they did not understand.

²⁶“The next day, he came upon two of them fighting, and he tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren! Why are you trying to hurt one another?’ ²⁷But the man who had wronged his neighbor pushed him aside, saying, ‘Who appointed you to be our ruler and judge? ²⁸Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ ²⁹Moses fled when he heard this, and he dwelt as an alien in Midian and became the father of two sons.

³⁰“After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the desert near Mount Sinai in the flame of a burning bush. ³¹When Moses saw it, he was amazed, and as he approached to examine it, the voice of the Lord said to him, ³²‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’

“Moses was terrified and did not dare to look. ³³Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. ³⁴I have seen the oppression of my people in Egypt and have heard their sighs, and I have come down to rescue them. Now come! I will send you to Egypt.’

³⁵“This Moses whom they rejected by saying ‘Who appointed you to be our ruler and judge?’ God now sent forth as both ruler and liberator through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶It was he who led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and for forty years in the desert. ³⁷It was this Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you, from your own people, a prophet like me.’ ³⁸It was he who was in the assembly in the desert with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and with our ancestors, and who received words of life to hand on to us.

³⁹“This is the man whom our ancestors refused to obey. Instead they thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, ⁴⁰saying to Aaron, ‘Make gods for us who will lead us on the way. As for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’

New Catholic Bible (NCB)