Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Giving Thanks to God

63 O God, You are my God. I will look for You with all my heart and strength. My soul is thirsty for You. My flesh is weak wanting You in a dry and tired land where there is no water. ² So I have seen You in the holy place. And I have seen Your power and Your shining-greatness. ³ My lips will praise You because Your loving-kindness is better than life. ⁴ So I will give honor to You as long as I live. I will lift up my hands in Your name. ⁵ My soul will be filled as with rich foods. And my mouth praises You with lips of joy.

⁶ On my bed I remember You. I think of You through the hours of the night. ⁷ For You have been my help. And I sing for joy in the shadow of Your wings. ⁸ My soul holds on to You. Your right hand holds me up.

Miriam and Aaron Spoke against Moses

12 Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite woman. ² They said, “Is it true that the Lord has spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?” And the Lord heard it. ³ Now Moses was a man with no pride, more so than any man on the earth. ⁴ At once the Lord said to Moses and Aaron and Miriam, “You three come out to the meeting tent.” So the three of them came out. ⁵ Then the Lord came down in a cloud and stood at the door of the meeting tent, and called Aaron and Miriam. When both of them had come near, ⁶ the Lord said, “Now listen to Me. If there is a man who speaks for God among you, I the Lord will make Myself known to him in a special dream. I will speak with him in a dream. ⁷ Not so, with My servant Moses. He is faithful in all My house. ⁸ With him I speak face to face in ways he understands, and not in ways he does not understand. And he sees what the Lord is like. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?”

⁹ The Lord was angry with them, and He left.

²¹ Then a strong angel picked up a large stone like those used for grinding wheat. He threw it into the sea, saying, “The big and strong city of Babylon will be thrown down like this. It will never be found again. ²² The sound of those playing on harps and on flutes and on horns will not be heard in you again. No workman doing any kind of work will be found in you again. The sound of the grinding-stone will not be heard in you again. ²³ No light will ever shine in you again. There will be no more happy voices from a wedding heard in you. Your men who bought and sold were the most powerful on earth. You fooled people over all the world by your witchcraft. ²⁴ And in this city was found the blood of the early preachers and of those who belonged to God and of all those who had been killed on the earth.”