Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Yahweh, Make Me Know My End
For the choir director. For [a]Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
39 I said, “I will (A)keep watch over my ways
That I (B)may not sin with my tongue;
I will keep watch over (C)my mouth as with a muzzle
While the wicked are in my presence.”
2 I was (D)mute with silence,
I even kept silent from speaking good,
And my anguish grew worse.
3 My (E)heart was hot within me,
While I meditated the fire was burning;
Then I spoke with my tongue:
4 “Yahweh, cause me to know (F)my end
And what is the extent of my days;
Let me know how (G)transient I am.
5 Behold, You have made (H)my days as [b]handbreadths,
And my (I)lifetime as nothing before You;
Surely every man, even standing firm, is [c]altogether (J)vanity. [d]Selah.
6 Surely every man (K)walks about as [e]a shadow;
Surely they make an (L)uproar in vain;
He (M)piles up riches and does not know who will gather them.
7 “And now, Lord, what do I hope in?
My (N)expectation is in You.
8 (O)Deliver me from all my transgressions;
Make me not the (P)reproach of the wicked fool.
9 I have become (Q)mute, I do not open my mouth,
Because it is (R)You who have done it.
10 (S)Remove Your plague from me;
Because of (T)the opposition of Your hand I am wasting away.
11 With (U)reproofs You chasten a man for iniquity;
You (V)consume as a moth what is precious to him;
Surely (W)every man is vanity. Selah.
12 “But (A)where can wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
13 (B)Man does not know its worth,
And it is not found in the land of the living.
14 The deep says, ‘It is not in me’;
And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15 (C)Pure gold cannot be given in place of it,
Nor can silver be weighed as its price.
16 It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
In precious onyx or sapphire.
17 (D)Gold or glass cannot meet its worth,
Nor can it be exchanged for articles of fine gold.
18 Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned;
And the acquisition of (E)wisdom is above that of pearls.
19 The topaz of [a]Ethiopia cannot meet its worth,
Nor can it be valued in (F)pure gold.
20 (G)Where then does wisdom come from?
And where is the place of understanding?
21 Thus it is hidden from the eyes of all living
And concealed from the birds of the sky.
22 [b](H)Abaddon and Death say,
‘With our ears we have heard a report of it.’
23 “(I)God understands its way,
And He knows its place.
24 For He (J)looks to the ends of the earth
And sees everything under the heavens.
25 When He set (K)weight to the wind
And (L)meted out the waters by measure,
26 When He set a (M)limit for the rain
And a course for the (N)thunderbolt,
27 Then He saw it and recounted it;
He established it and also searched it out.
28 So He said to man, ‘Behold, the (O)fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
And to turn away from evil is understanding.’”
Job Continues His Discourse
29 And Job continued to lift up his [c](P)discourse and said,
2 “Oh that I were as in months gone by,
As in the days when God (Q)kept me,
3 When (R)His lamp shone over my head,
And (S)by His light I walked through darkness,
4 As I was in [d]the prime of my days,
When the (T)intimate counsel with God was over my tent,
5 When [e]the Almighty was yet with me,
And my children were around me,
6 When my steps were bathed in (U)butter,
And the (V)rock poured out for me streams of oil!
7 When I went out to (W)the gate of the city,
When I [f]took my seat in the square,
8 The young men saw me and hid,
And the old men arose and stood.
9 The princes (X)stopped talking
And (Y)put their hands on their mouths;
10 The voice of the nobles was (Z)hidden away,
And their (AA)tongue clung to their palate.
The Seventh Seal
8 When He opened the (A)seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 Then I saw (B)the seven angels who stand before God, and seven (C)trumpets were given to them.
3 (D)And another angel came and stood at the (E)altar, having a (F)golden censer; and much (G)incense was given to him, so that he might [a]add it to the (H)prayers of all the saints on the (I)golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And (J)the smoke of the incense went up [b]with the prayers of the saints, out of the angel’s hand, before God. 5 Then the angel [c]took the censer and (K)filled it with the fire of the altar, and (L)threw it to the earth; and there followed (M)peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an (N)earthquake.
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