Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 39
The Fleeting Nature of Life
For the choir director, for Jeduthun. A Davidic psalm.
1 I said, “I will guard my ways
so that I may not sin with my tongue;
I will guard my mouth with a muzzle
as long as the wicked are in my presence.”(A)
2 I was speechless and quiet;
I kept silent, even from speaking good,
and my pain intensified.(B)
3 My heart grew hot within me;
as I mused, a fire burned.(C)
I spoke with my tongue:
4 “Lord, reveal to me the end of my life
and the number of my days.
Let me know how short-lived I am.(D)
5 You, indeed, have made my days short in length,
and my life span as nothing in Your sight.
Yes, every mortal man is only a vapor.(E)
6 “Certainly, man walks about like a mere shadow.
Indeed, they frantically rush around in vain,
gathering possessions
without knowing who will get them.(F)
7 Now, Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in You.(G)
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions;
do not make me the taunt of fools.(H)
9 I am speechless; I do not open my mouth
because of what You have done.(I)
10 Remove Your torment from me;
I fade away because of the force of Your hand.(J)
11 You discipline a man with punishment for sin,
consuming like a moth what is precious to him;(K)
every man is only a vapor.(L)
12 But where can wisdom(A) be found,
and where is understanding located?
13 No man can know its value,[a]
since it cannot be found in the land of the living.
14 The ocean depths say, “It’s not in me,”
while the sea declares, “I don’t have it.”(B)
15 Gold cannot be exchanged for it,
and silver cannot be weighed out for its price.
16 Wisdom cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,(C)
in precious onyx or sapphire.[b](D)
17 Gold and glass do not compare with it,
and articles of fine gold cannot be exchanged for it.(E)
18 Coral and quartz are not worth mentioning.
The price of wisdom is beyond pearls.
19 Topaz from Cush cannot compare with it,
and it cannot be valued in pure gold.
20 Where then does wisdom come from,
and where is understanding located?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing
and concealed from the birds of the sky.
22 Abaddon and Death(F) say,
“We have heard news of it with our ears.”
23 But God understands the way to wisdom,
and He knows its location.
24 For He looks to the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
25 When God fixed the weight of the wind
and limited the water by measure,(G)
26 when He established a limit[c] for the rain(H)
and a path for the lightning,
27 He considered wisdom and evaluated it;
He established it and examined it.
28 He said to mankind,
“The fear of the Lord is this: wisdom.
And to turn from evil is understanding.”(I)
Job’s Final Claim of Innocence
29 Job continued his discourse, saying:
2 If only I could be as in months gone by,
in the days when God watched over me,
3 when His lamp shone above my head,
and I walked through darkness by His light!(J)
4 I would be as I was in the days of my youth
when God’s friendship(K) rested on my tent,
5 when the Almighty was still with me
and my children were around me,
6 when my feet were bathed in cream
and the rock(L) poured out streams of oil for me!
7 When I went out to the city gate
and took my seat in the town square,
8 the young men saw me and withdrew,
while older men stood to their feet.
9 City officials stopped talking
and covered their mouths with their hands.(M)
10 The noblemen’s voices were hushed,
and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.
The Seventh Seal
8 When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand in the presence of God; seven trumpets were given to them. 3 Another angel, with a gold incense burner, came and stood at the altar. He was given a large amount of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the gold altar in front of the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up in the presence of God from the angel’s hand. 5 The angel took the incense burner, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it to the earth; there were rumblings of thunder, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
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