Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
BOOK II
(Psalms 42–72)
Psalm 42
Longing for God
For the choir director. A Maskil of the sons of Korah.
1 As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so I long for you, God.(A)
2 I thirst for God, the living God.
When can I come and appear before God?(B)
3 My tears have been my food day and night,
while all day long people say to me,
“Where is your God?” (C)
4 I remember this as I pour out my heart:(D)
how I walked with many,
leading the festive procession to the house of God,
with joyful and thankful shouts.(E)
5 Why, my soul, are you so dejected?
Why are you in such turmoil?
Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him,
my Savior and my God.(F)
6 I[a] am deeply depressed;
therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan
and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.(G)
7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your billows have swept over me.(H)
8 The Lord will send his faithful love by day;(I)
his song will be with me in the night—
a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I will say to God, my rock,(J)
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about in sorrow
because of the enemy’s oppression?” (K)
10 My adversaries taunt me,
as if crushing my bones,
while all day long they say to me,
“Where is your God?” (L)
11 Why, my soul, are you so dejected?
Why are you in such turmoil?
Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him,
my Savior and my God.(M)
13 The next day Moses sat down to judge the people, and they stood around Moses from morning until evening. 14 When Moses’s father-in-law saw everything he was doing for them he asked, “What is this you’re doing for the people? Why are you alone sitting as judge, while all the people stand around you from morning until evening?”
15 Moses replied to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God. 16 Whenever they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I make a decision between one man and another. I teach them God’s statutes and laws.”(A)
17 “What you’re doing is not good,” Moses’s father-in-law said to him. 18 “You will certainly wear out both yourself and these people who are with you, because the task is too heavy for you. You can’t do it alone.(B) 19 Now listen to me; I will give you some advice, and God be with you. You be the one to represent the people before God and bring their cases to him. 20 Instruct them about the statutes and laws, and teach them the way to live and what they must do.(C) 21 But you should select from all the people able men, God-fearing, trustworthy, and hating dishonest profit.(D) Place them over the people as commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.(E) 22 They should judge the people at all times. Then they can bring you every major case but judge every minor case themselves. In this way you will lighten your load,[a] and they will bear it with you.(F) 23 If you do this, and God so directs you, you will be able to endure, and also all these people will be able to go home satisfied.”[b]
24 Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. 25 So Moses chose able men from all Israel and made them leaders over the people as commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. 26 They judged the people at all times; they would bring the hard cases to Moses, but they would judge every minor case themselves.
27 Moses let his father-in-law go, and he journeyed to his own land.(G)
15 To be sure, some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry,(A) but others out of good will. 16 These preach out of love,(B) knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; 17 the others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition,(C) not sincerely, thinking that they will cause me trouble in my imprisonment. 18 What does it matter? Only that in every way, whether from false motives(D) or true, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice 19 because I know this will lead to my salvation[a](E) through your prayers and help from the Spirit(F) of Jesus Christ.(G) 20 My eager expectation and hope(H) is that I will not be ashamed about anything, but that now as always, with all courage, Christ will be highly honored in my body, whether by life(I) or by death.(J)
Living Is Christ
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