Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer of Moses the man of God.
1 ¶ Lord, thou hast been our refuge from generation to generation.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
3 Thou dost turn unto man until he is broken and thou saith, Become converted, ye sons of Adam.
4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past and as a watch in the night.
5 Thou dost cause them to pass by as the waters of a river; they are as a dream, which is strong in the morning like grass.
6 In the morning it blossoms and grows up; in the evening it is cut down and withers.
7 ¶ For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath we are troubled.
8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
9 For all our days decline because of thy wrath; we end our years according to the word.
10 The days of our years are seventy, and of the most valiant eighty years, yet their strength is labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
11 Who knows the power of thine anger? that thy wrath is not less than our fear.
12 ¶ Cause us to learn this that we might number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
13 Return unto us, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy slaves.
14 O satisfy us early with thy mercy, and we shall sing and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad according to the days in which thou hast afflicted us and the years in which we have seen evil.
16 Let thy work appear in thy slaves and thy glory upon their sons.
17 And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us, and set thou aright the work of our hands upon us; yea, set thou aright the work of our hands.
17 ¶ And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the sons of Israel and take of each of them a rod according to the houses of their fathers, of all their princes, twelve rods according to the houses of their fathers, and write thou each man’s name upon his rod.
3 And thou shalt write Aaron’s name upon the rod of Levi, for each head of family of their fathers shall have one rod.
4 And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the testimony, before the testimony, where I will testify of myself unto you.
5 And it shall come to pass regarding the man whom I shall choose that his rod shall blossom; and I will resolve the complaints of the sons of Israel, with which they murmur against you.
6 And Moses spoke unto the sons of Israel, and all their princes gave him a rod apiece, for each prince one, according to their fathers’ houses, even twelve rods; and the rod of Aaron was among their rods.
7 And Moses laid up the rods before the LORD in the tabernacle of the testimony.
8 ¶ And it came to pass that on the next day Moses went into the tabernacle of the testimony; and, behold, the rod of Aaron of the house of Levi had budded and blossomed and brought forth open flowers and yielded almonds.
9 Then Moses brought out all the rods from before the LORD unto all the sons of Israel; and they looked, and each one took his rod.
10 And the LORD said unto Moses, Return Aaron’s rod before the testimony to be kept for a sign unto the rebellious sons; and thou shalt cause their complaints to cease from upon me, that they not die.
11 And Moses did as the LORD commanded him, so did he.
3 ¶ Beloved, I now write unto you this second epistle, in which I alert with exhortation your pure understanding,
2 that ye keep in memory the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of our commandment, that we are apostles of the Lord and Saviour,
3 ¶ knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts
4 and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the day in which the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
5 Of course, they willingly ignore that the heavens were created of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, by the word of God;
6 by which the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished;
7 but the heavens, which are now, and the earth are conserved by the same word, kept unto the fire in the day of judgment and of perdition of the ungodly men.
8 ¶ But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day before the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years are as one day.
9 ¶ The Lord is not late concerning his promise, as some count lateness, but is patient with us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements, burning, shall be dissolved, and the earth and the works that are in it shall be burned up.
11 ¶ Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 waiting for and desiring earnestly for the coming of the day of God, in which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
13 Nevertheless we, according to his promises, wait for new heavens and a new earth, in which dwells righteousness.
14 Therefore, beloved, seeing that ye hope for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless.
15 And have as saving health the patience of our Lord, even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him has written unto you
16 in almost all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, among which are some things that are hard to understand, which those that are ignorant and unstable twist, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
17 Ye, therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things in advance, be on guard lest by the error of the wicked ye be deceived with the others and fall from your own steadfastness.
18 But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and until the day of eternity. Amen.z
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