Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Suffering, Praise, and Posterity of the Messiah
To the Chief Musician. Set to [a]“The Deer of the Dawn.” A Psalm of David.
22 My (A)God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Why are You so far from helping Me,
And from the words of My groaning?
2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear;
And in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But You are holy,
Enthroned in the (B)praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in You;
They trusted, and You delivered them.
5 They cried to You, and were delivered;
(C)They trusted in You, and were not ashamed.
6 But I am (D)a worm, and no man;
(E)A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
7 (F)All those who see Me ridicule Me;
They [b]shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 “He(G) [c]trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him;
(H)Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”
9 (I)But You are He who took Me out of the womb;
You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon You from birth.
From My mother’s womb
(J)You have been My God.
11 Be not far from Me,
For trouble is near;
For there is none to help.
Job Prays for Relief
17 “My spirit is broken,
My days are extinguished,
(A)The grave is ready for me.
2 Are not mockers with me?
And does not my eye [a]dwell on their (B)provocation?
3 “Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself.
Who is he who (C)will shake hands with me?
4 For You have hidden their heart from (D)understanding;
Therefore You will not exalt them.
5 He who speaks flattery to his friends,
Even the eyes of his children will (E)fail.
6 “But He has made me (F)a byword of the people,
And I have become one in whose face men spit.
7 (G)My eye has also grown dim because of sorrow,
And all my members are like shadows.
8 Upright men are astonished at this,
And the innocent stirs himself up against the hypocrite.
9 Yet the righteous will hold to his (H)way,
And he who has (I)clean hands will be stronger and stronger.
10 “But please, (J)come back again, [b]all of you,
For I shall not find one wise man among you.
11 (K)My days are past,
My purposes are broken off,
Even the [c]thoughts of my heart.
12 They change the night into day;
‘The light is near,’ they say, in the face of darkness.
13 If I wait for the grave as my house,
If I make my bed in the darkness,
14 If I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’
And to the worm, ‘You are my mother and my sister,’
15 Where then is my (L)hope?
As for my hope, who can see it?
16 Will they go down (M)to the gates of [d]Sheol?
Shall we have (N)rest together in the dust?”
Be Faithful(A)
7 Therefore, as (B)the Holy Spirit says:
(C)“Today, if you will hear His voice,
8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
In the day of trial in the wilderness,
9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,
And saw My works forty years.
10 Therefore I was angry with that generation,
And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they have not known My ways.’
11 So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”
12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but [a]exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, 15 while it is said:
(D)“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
Failure of the Wilderness Wanderers
16 (E)For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, (F)whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And (G)to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of (H)unbelief.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.