Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Book IV—Psalms 90–106[a]
Psalm 90[b]
Prayer To Use Time Wisely
1 A prayer of Moses, the man of God.[c]
Lord, you have been our refuge
from generation to generation.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth
or the earth and the world came into existence,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You turn men back to dust,
saying, “Return,[d] you children of men.”
4 For to you a thousand years
are like a yesterday that has passed
or one of the watches of the night.[e]
5 You snatch them away like a dream;
they are like the grass of the field,[f]
6 which at dawn flourishes and is green
but by nightfall is withered and dry.
13 Return,[a] O Lord. How long must we wait?
Show compassion to your servants.
14 Fill us with your kindness in the morning[b]
so that we may exult and be glad all our days.
15 Grant us joy for as many days as you have afflicted us
and for as many years as we have known misfortune.
16 Manifest your works to your servants
and your glory to their children.
17 May the favor[c] of the Lord, our God, rest upon us.
And may the work of our hands prosper—
indeed, may the work of our hands prosper.
14 Commissioning Joshua. The Lord said to Moses, “Behold, the day is approaching when you will die. Summon Joshua and present yourselves before the tent of meeting so that I can commission him.”[a] Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting. 15 The Lord appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood over the entrance to the tent.
16 Predicting Israel’s Rebellion. The Lord said to Moses, “You will soon sleep with your fathers, but this people will rise up and prostitute themselves with foreign gods from the land that they are entering. They will forsake and break the covenant that I have made with them. 17 On the day that I become angry with them and forsake them, I will hide my face from them, and they will be consumed. Many disasters and difficulties will fall upon them. On that day they will say, ‘Have these disasters happened to us because our God is not with us?’ 18 I will certainly hide my face that day on account of all their wickedness in turning to other gods. 19 Now write this song and teach it to the Israelites. Put it in their mouths, so that this song can be a witness for me against the Israelites. 20 When I brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land that I promised to their fathers, and when they ate their fill and flourished, they will turn to other gods and serve them, rejecting me and breaking my covenant. 21 When many disasters and difficulties come upon them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten by their descendants. I know their inclinations even before I bring them into the land that I promised them by oath.”
22 So Moses wrote down this song that day, and he taught it to the Israelites.
Church Organization
A Bishop Must Be Blameless.[a] 5 The reason I left you behind in Crete was so that you could finish up the work that remained to be done and appoint presbyters in every town as I directed you. 6 Each man must be blameless and the husband of only one wife, with children who are believers and free from any suspicion of licentious or rebellious behavior.
7 For in his role as God’s steward a bishop[b] must be blameless. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or prone to drunkenness or violent or avaricious. 8 Rather, he must be hospitable, a lover of goodness, prudent, upright, devout, and self-controlled. 9 In addition, he must hold firmly to the authentic message he has been taught, so that he may be able both to exhort with sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict it.
10 For the Pure All Things Are Pure.[c] For there are also many rebellious people, especially among the Jewish converts,[d] who deceive others with their empty talk. 11 It is essential to silence them, since they are ruining whole households by teaching for dishonest gain what it is not right to teach. 12 It was one of their very own prophets, a man from Crete, who said,
“Cretans have always been liars, vicious beasts, and lazy gluttons.”
13 This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply so that they may be restored to a sound faith, 14 rather than paying attention to Jewish myths or to the commandments of those who turn away from the truth.
15 To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are corrupt and without faith nothing is pure.[e] Their very minds and their consciences have been corrupted. 16 They profess to know God, but they deny him by their deeds. They are detestable and disobedient, totally unfit for any good work.
Copyright © 2019 by Catholic Book Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.