Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 39
To the Chief Musician; for Jeduthun [founder of an official musical family]. A Psalm of David.
1 I said, I will take heed and guard my ways, that I may sin not with my tongue; I will muzzle my mouth as with a bridle while the wicked are before me.
2 I was dumb with silence, I held my peace without profit and had no comfort away from good, while my distress was renewed.
3 My heart was hot within me. While I was musing, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue:
4 Lord, make me to know my end and [to appreciate] the measure of my days—what it is; let me know and realize how frail I am [how transient is my stay here].
5 Behold, You have made my days as [short as] handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing in Your sight. Truly every man at his best is merely a breath! Selah [pause, and think calmly of that]!
6 Surely every man walks to and fro—like a shadow in a pantomime; surely for futility and emptiness he is in turmoil; each one heaps up riches, not knowing who will gather them.(A)
7 And now, Lord, what do I wait for and expect? My hope and expectation are in You.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions; make me not the scorn and reproach of the [self-confident] fool!
9 I am dumb, I open not my mouth, for it is You Who has done it.
10 Remove Your stroke away from me; I am consumed by the conflict and the blow of Your hand.
11 When with rebukes You correct and chasten man for sin, You waste his beauty like a moth and what is dear to him consumes away; surely every man is a mere breath. Selah [pause, and think calmly of that]!
12 Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; hold not Your peace at my tears! For I am Your passing guest, a temporary resident, as all my fathers were.
13 O look away from me and spare me, that I may recover cheerfulness and encouraging strength and know gladness before I go and am no more!
26 But Job answered,
2 How you have helped him who is without power! How you have sustained the arm that is without strength!
3 How you have counseled him who has no wisdom! And how plentifully you have declared to him sound knowledge!
4 With whose assistance have you uttered these words? And whose spirit [inspired what] came forth from you?
5 The shades of the dead tremble underneath the waters and their inhabitants.
6 Sheol (the place of the dead) is naked before God, and Abaddon (the place of destruction) has no covering [from His eyes].
7 He it is Who spreads out the northern skies over emptiness and [a]hangs the earth upon or over nothing.
8 He holds the waters bound in His clouds [which otherwise would spill on earth all at once], and the cloud is not rent under them.
9 He covers the face of His throne and spreads over it His cloud.
10 He has placed an enclosing limit [the horizon] upon the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.
11 The pillars of the heavens tremble and are astonished at His rebuke.
12 He stills or stirs up the sea by His power, and by His understanding He smites proud Rahab.
13 By His breath the heavens are garnished; His hand pierced the [swiftly] fleeing serpent.(A)
14 Yet these are but [a small part of His doings] the outskirts of His ways or the mere fringes of His force, the faintest whisper of His voice! Who dares contemplate or who can understand the thunders of His full, magnificent power?
9 After this I looked and a vast host appeared which no one could count, [gathered out] of every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages. These stood before the throne and before the Lamb; they were attired in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.
10 In loud voice they cried, saying, [Our] salvation is due to our God, Who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb [to Them we owe our deliverance]!
11 And all the angels were standing round the throne and round the elders [[a]of the heavenly Sanhedrin] and the four living creatures, and they fell prostrate before the throne and worshiped God.
12 Amen! (So be it!) they cried. Blessing and glory and majesty and splendor and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and might [be ascribed] to our God to the ages and ages (forever and ever, throughout the eternities of the eternities)! Amen! (So be it!)
13 Then, addressing me, one of the elders [[b]of the heavenly Sanhedrin] said, Who are these [people] clothed in the long white robes? And from where have they come?
14 I replied, Sir, you know. And he said to me, These are they who have come out of the great tribulation (persecution), and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.(A)
15 For this reason they are [now] before the [very] throne of God and serve Him day and night in His sanctuary (temple); and He Who is sitting upon the throne will protect and spread His tabernacle over and shelter them with His presence.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun smite them, nor any [c]scorching heat.(B)
17 For the Lamb Who is in the midst of the throne will be their Shepherd, and He will guide them to the springs of the waters of life; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.(C)
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