Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
To the Director: To Jeduthun. A Davidic Psalm.
A Prayer about Life’s Priorities
39 I told myself, “I will keep watch over my tongue to keep from sinning.
I will muzzle my mouth when the wicked are around.”
2 I was as silent as a mute person;
I said nothing, not even something good,
and my distress deepened.
3 My heart within me became incensed;[a]
as I thought about it, the fire burned.
Then I[b] spoke out:
4 “Lord, let me know how my life ends,[c]
and the standard by which you will measure[d] my days, whatever it is!
Then I will know how transient my life is.
5 Look, you have made my life span fit in your hand;
It is nothing compared to yours.
Surely every person at their best is a puff of wind.
6 In fact, people walk around as shadows.
Surely, they busy themselves for nothing,
heaping up possessions but not knowing who will get them.
7 How long, Lord, will I wait expectantly?
I have placed my hope in you.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions,
and do not let fools scorn me.”
9 I remain silent;
I do not open my mouth,
for you are the one who acted.
10 Stop scourging me,
since I have been crushed by your heavy hand.
11 You rebuke by chastening a man with the consequence of iniquities;
you destroy what is attractive to him, as one would treat a moth.
Indeed, every person is a puff of wind.
12 Hear my prayer, Lord,
pay attention to my cry,
and do not ignore my tears.
I am an alien in your presence,
a stranger just like my ancestors were.
13 Stop looking at me with chastisement,[e] so I can smile again,
before I depart and am no more.
The Parable of the Eagle
17 This message came to me from the Lord: 2 “Son of Man, compose a riddle and relate a parable to Israel’s house. 3 Tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says, “A massive eagle with gigantic wings, long pinions, and full, multi-colored plumage came to Lebanon and took away the top of the cedar.[a] 4 He plucked off the top of its shoot, brought it to a land of merchants, and set it down in a city full of traders. 5 Then the eagle took a seed from the land and planted it in fertile ground. He planted it like a willow tree next to abundant waters. 6 It flourished and became a low, spreading vine. Its branches turned toward him, and its roots spread under him to become a vine that put out shoots and spread out its branches.
7 “‘“All of a sudden, there was another eagle with gigantic wings and thick plumage. The vine stretched its roots hungrily toward him and spread its branches out to him in order to be watered on the terraces where it was planted. 8 It was transplanted into good soil[b] near abundant water, and it produced branches and bore fruit, becoming a magnificent vine.”’
9 “Tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says, “Will it prosper? Won’t he pull up its roots, and strip it bare so all its fresh foliage dries up? It won’t be by great strength or by a great army that it will be uprooted. 10 Look! Because it’s a transplanted vine, won’t it wither when the east wind hits it? It will surely wither in the terraces where it had started to sprout.”’”
12 For all who have sinned apart from the Law will also perish apart from the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law. 13 For it is not merely those who hear the Law who are righteous in God’s sight. No, it is those who follow the Law, who will be justified. 14 For whenever gentiles, who do not possess the Law, do instinctively what the Law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the Law. 15 They show that what the Law requires is written in their hearts, a fact to which their own consciences testify, and their thoughts will either accuse or excuse them 16 on that day when God, through Jesus the Messiah,[a] will judge people’s secrets according to my gospel.
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