Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Book 4
Psalms 90—106
God Is Eternal, and We Are Not
A prayer of Moses, the man of God.
90 Lord, you have been our home
since the beginning.
2 Before the mountains were born,
and before you created the earth and the world,
you are God.
You have always been, and you will always be.
3 You turn people back into dust.
You say, “Go back into dust, human beings.”
4 To you, a thousand years
is like the passing of a day.
It passes like an hour in the night.
5 While people sleep, you take their lives.
They are like weeds that grow in the morning.
6 In the morning they are fresh and new.
But by evening they dry up and die.
7 We are destroyed by your anger.
We are terrified by your hot anger.
8 You have put the evil we have done right in front of you.
You clearly see our secret sins.
9 All our days pass while you are angry.
Our years end with a moan.
10 Our lifetime is 70 years.
If we are strong, we may live to be 80.
But the years are full of hard work and pain.
They pass quickly, and then we are gone.
11 Who knows the full power of your anger?
Your anger is as great as our fear of you should be.
12 Teach us how short our lives really are
so that we may be wise.
13 Lord, how long before you return
and show kindness to your servants?
14 Fill us with your love every morning.
Then we will sing and rejoice all our lives.
15 We have seen years of trouble.
Now give us joy as you gave us sorrow.
16 Show your servants the wonderful things you do.
Show your greatness to their children.
17 Lord our God, be pleased with us.
Give us success in what we do.
Yes, give us success in what we do.
Aaron’s Walking Stick Buds
17 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel. Get 12 walking sticks from them. Get 1 from the leader of each tribe. Write the name of each man on his stick. 3 On the stick from Levi, write Aaron’s name. There must be 1 stick for the head of each tribe. 4 Put them in the Meeting Tent. Place them in front of the Ark of the Covenant, where I meet with you. 5 I will choose one man. His stick will begin to grow leaves. And I will stop the Israelites from always complaining against you.”
6 So Moses spoke to the Israelites. Each of the 12 leaders gave him a walking stick. And Aaron’s walking stick was among them. 7 Moses put them before the Lord in the Tent of the Agreement.
8 The next day Moses entered the Tent. He saw that Aaron’s stick had grown leaves. (It stood for the family of Levi.) It had even budded, blossomed and produced almonds. 9 So Moses brought out to the Israelites all the walking sticks from the Lord’s presence. They all looked, and each man took back his stick.
10 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s walking stick back. Put it in front of the Ark of the Covenant. It will be a sign to these people who are always turning against me. This will stop their complaining against me. Now they won’t die.” 11 So Moses obeyed what the Lord commanded him.
Jesus Will Come Again
3 My friends, this is the second letter I have written to you. I wrote both letters to you to help your honest minds remember something. 2 I want you to remember the words that the holy prophets spoke in the past. And remember the command that our Lord and Savior gave us through your apostles. 3 It is important for you to understand what will happen in the last days. People will laugh at you. They will live doing the evil things they want to do. 4 They will say, “Jesus promised to come again. Where is he? Our fathers have died. But the world continues the way it has been since it was made.” 5 But they do not want to remember what happened long ago. God spoke and made heaven and earth. He made the earth from water and with water. 6 Then the world was flooded and destroyed with water. 7 And that same word of God is keeping heaven and earth that we have now. They are being kept to be destroyed by fire. They are being kept for the Judgment Day and the destruction of all who are against God.
8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: To the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow in doing what he promised—the way some people understand slowness. But God is being patient with you. He does not want anyone to be lost. He wants everyone to change his heart and life.
10 But the day the Lord comes again will be a surprise, like a thief. The skies will disappear with a loud noise. Everything in the skies will be destroyed by fire. And the earth and everything in it will be exposed.[a] 11 In that way everything will be destroyed. So what kind of people should you be? You should live holy lives and serve God. 12 You should wait for the day of God and look forward to its coming. When that day comes, the skies will be destroyed with fire, and everything in the skies will melt with heat. 13 But God made a promise to us. And we are waiting for what he promised—a new heaven and a new earth where goodness lives.
14 Dear friends, we are waiting for this to happen. So try as hard as you can to be without sin and without fault. Try to be at peace with God. 15 Remember that we are saved because our Lord is patient. Our dear brother Paul told you the same thing when he wrote to you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 Paul writes about this in all his letters. Sometimes there are things in Paul’s letters that are hard to understand. And some people explain these things falsely. They are ignorant and weak in faith. They also falsely explain the other Scriptures. But they are destroying themselves by doing that.
17 Dear friends, you already know about this. So be careful. Do not let those evil people lead you away by the wrong they do. Be careful so that you will not fall from your own strong faith. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Glory be to him now and forever! Amen.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.