Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Vanity of Life.
For the choir director, for [a]Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
39 I said, “I will (A)guard my ways
That I (B)may not sin with my tongue;
I will guard (C)my mouth as with a muzzle
While the wicked are in my presence.”
2 I was (D)mute [b]and silent,
I [c]refrained even from good,
And my [d]sorrow grew worse.
3 My (E)heart was hot within me,
While I was musing the fire burned;
Then I spoke with my tongue:
4 “Lord, make 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 handbreadths,
And my (I)lifetime as nothing in Your sight;
Surely every man [e]at his best is [f]a mere (J)breath. [g]Selah.
6 “Surely every man (K)walks about as [h]a phantom;
Surely they make an (L)uproar for nothing;
He (M)amasses riches and does not know who will gather them.
7 “And now, Lord, for what do I wait?
My (N)hope is in You.
8 “(O)Deliver me from all my transgressions;
Make me not the (P)reproach of the foolish.
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 [i]perishing.
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 a mere breath. Selah.
The Search for Wisdom Is Harder
12 “But (A)where can wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
13 “(B)Man does not know its value,
Nor is it 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 exchange for 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 equal it,
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 Ethiopia cannot equal it,
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 “[a](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 imparted (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 declared it;
He established it and also searched it out.
28 “And to man He said, ‘Behold, the (O)fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
And to depart from evil is understanding.’”
Job’s Past Was Glorious
29 And Job again took up his (P)discourse and said,
2 “Oh that I were as in months gone by,
As in the days when God (Q)watched over me;
3 When (R)His lamp shone over my head,
And (S)by His light I walked through darkness;
4 As I was in [b]the prime of my days,
When the [c](T)friendship of God was over my tent;
5 When [d]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 [e]took my seat in the square,
8 The young men saw me and hid themselves,
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 [f](Z)hushed,
And their (AA)tongue stuck to their palate.
The Seventh Seal—the Trumpets
8 When the Lamb broke the (A)seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 And I saw (B)the seven angels who stand before God, and seven (C)trumpets were given to them.
3 (D)Another angel came and stood at the (E)altar, holding 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 [b]saints on the (I)golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And (J)the smoke of the incense, [c]with the prayers of the [d]saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. 5 Then the angel [e]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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