Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Fourth Book—Psalms 90–106
Psalm 90[a]
God’s Eternity and Human Frailty
1 A prayer of Moses, the man of God.
I
Lord, you have been our refuge
through all generations.
2 Before the mountains were born,
the earth and the world brought forth,
from eternity to eternity you are God.(A)
3 You turn humanity back into dust,[b]
saying, “Return, you children of Adam!”(B)
4 A thousand years in your eyes
are merely a day gone by,(C)
Before a watch passes in the night,
5 [c]you wash them away;(D)
They sleep,
and in the morning they sprout again like an herb.
6 In the morning it blooms only to pass away;
in the evening it is wilted and withered.[d](E)
II
7 Truly we are consumed by your anger,
filled with terror by your wrath.
8 You have kept our faults before you,
our hidden sins in the light of your face.(F)
9 Our life ebbs away under your wrath;(G)
our years end like a sigh.
10 Seventy is the sum of our years,
or eighty, if we are strong;
Most of them are toil and sorrow;
they pass quickly, and we are gone.
11 Who comprehends the strength of your anger?
Your wrath matches the fear it inspires.
12 Teach us to count our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
III
13 Relent, O Lord! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
14 Fill us at daybreak with your mercy,(H)
that all our days we may sing for joy.
15 Make us glad as many days as you humbled us,
for as many years as we have seen trouble.(I)
16 Show your deeds to your servants,
your glory to their children.
17 May the favor of the Lord our God be ours.(J)
Prosper the work of our hands!
Prosper the work of our hands!
Chapter 17
1 The Lord said to Moses: 2 Tell Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, to remove the censers from the embers; and scatter the fire some distance away, for they have become holy— 3 [a]the censers of those who sinned at the cost of their lives. Have them hammered into plates to cover the altar, because in being presented before the Lord they have become holy. In this way they shall serve as a sign to the Israelites. 4 So taking the bronze censers which had been presented by those who were burned, Eleazar the priest had them hammered into a covering for the altar, 5 just as the Lord had directed him through Moses. This was to be a reminder to the Israelites that no unauthorized person, no one who was not a descendant of Aaron, should draw near to offer incense before the Lord, lest he meet the fate of Korah and his faction.
6 The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the Lord.” 7 But while the community was assembling against them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the tent of meeting, and the cloud now covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared. 8 Then Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, 9 and the Lord said to Moses: 10 Remove yourselves from this community, that I may consume them at once. But they fell prostrate.
11 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, put fire from the altar in it, lay incense on it, and bring it quickly to the community to make atonement for them; for wrath has come forth from the Lord and the plague has begun.”(A)
IV. The Delay of the Second Coming
Chapter 3
Denial of the Parousia. 1 [a]This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you; through them by way of reminder I am trying to stir up your sincere disposition, 2 to recall the words previously spoken by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and savior through your apostles.(A) 3 Know this first of all, that in the last days scoffers[b] will come [to] scoff, living according to their own desires(B) 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming?[c] From the time when our ancestors fell asleep, everything has remained as it was from the beginning of creation.”(C) 5 They deliberately ignore the fact that the heavens existed of old and earth was formed out of water and through water[d] by the word of God;(D) 6 through these the world that then existed was destroyed,(E) deluged with water.[e] 7 The present heavens and earth have been reserved by the same word for fire, kept for the day of judgment and of destruction of the godless.(F)
8 [f]But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years[g] and a thousand years like one day.(G) 9 The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard “delay,” but he is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.(H) 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief,[h] and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar and the elements will be dissolved by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be found out.(I)
Exhortation to Preparedness.[i] 11 Since everything is to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought [you] to be, conducting yourselves in holiness and devotion,(J) 12 [j]waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God,(K) because of which the heavens will be dissolved in flames and the elements melted by fire. 13 But according to his promise we await new heavens and a new earth[k] in which righteousness dwells.(L)
14 Therefore, beloved, since you await these things, be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace. 15 And consider the patience of our Lord as salvation, as our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, also wrote to you,(M) 16 speaking of these things[l] as he does in all his letters. In them there are some things hard to understand that the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, just as they do the other scriptures.
V. Final Exhortation and Doxology[m]
17 Therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, be on your guard not to be led into the error of the unprincipled and to fall from your own stability.(N) 18 But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory now and to the day of eternity. [Amen.](O)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.