Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 38
A Penitent Sufferer’s Plea for Healing
A Psalm of David, for the memorial offering.
1 O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath.(A)
2 For your arrows have sunk into me,
and your hand has come down on me.(B)
3 There is no soundness in my flesh
because of your indignation;
there is no health in my bones
because of my sin.(C)
4 For my iniquities have gone over my head;
they weigh like a burden too heavy for me.(D)
5 My wounds grow foul and fester
because of my foolishness;(E)
6 I am utterly bowed down and prostrate;
all day long I go around mourning.(F)
7 For my loins are filled with burning,
and there is no soundness in my flesh.(G)
8 I am utterly spent and crushed;
I groan because of the tumult of my heart.(H)
9 O Lord, all my longing is known to you;
my sighing is not hidden from you.(I)
10 My heart throbs; my strength fails me;
as for the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me.
11 My friends and companions stand aloof from my affliction,
and my neighbors stand far off.(J)
12 Those who seek my life lay their snares;
those who seek to hurt me speak of ruin
and meditate on treachery all day long.(K)
13 But I am like the deaf; I do not hear;
like the mute, who cannot speak.(L)
14 Truly, I am like one who does not hear
and in whose mouth is no retort.
15 But it is for you, O Lord, that I wait;
it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.(M)
16 For I pray, “Only do not let them rejoice over me,
those who boast against me when my foot slips.”(N)
5 “When any of you sin in that you have heard a public adjuration to testify and, although able to testify as one who has seen or learned of the matter, do not speak up, you are subject to punishment.(A) 2 Or when any of you touch any unclean thing, whether the carcass of an unclean beast or the carcass of unclean livestock or the carcass of an unclean swarming thing, and are unaware of it, you have become unclean and are guilty.(B) 3 Or when you touch human uncleanness—any uncleanness by which one can become unclean—and are unaware of it, when you come to know it, you shall be guilty. 4 Or when any of you utter aloud a rash oath for a bad or a good purpose, whatever people utter in an oath and are unaware of it, when you come to know it, you shall in any of these be guilty. 5 When you realize your guilt in any of these, you shall confess the sin that you have committed,(C) 6 and you shall bring to the Lord, as your penalty for the sin that you have committed, a female from the flock, a sheep or a goat, as a purification offering, and the priest shall make atonement on your behalf for your sin.
7 “But if you cannot afford a sheep, you shall bring to the Lord, as your penalty for the sin that you have committed, two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a purification offering and the other for a burnt offering.(D) 8 You shall bring them to the priest, who shall offer first the one for the purification offering, wringing its head at the nape without severing it.(E) 9 He shall sprinkle some of the blood of the purification offering on the side of the altar, while the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar; it is a purification offering.(F) 10 And the second he shall offer for a burnt offering according to the regulation. Thus the priest shall make atonement on your behalf for the sin that you have committed, and you shall be forgiven.(G)
11 “But if you cannot afford two turtledoves or two pigeons, you shall bring as your offering for the sin that you have committed one-tenth of an ephah of choice flour for a purification offering; you shall not put oil on it or lay frankincense on it, for it is a purification offering.(H) 12 You shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall scoop up a handful of it as its memorial portion and turn this into smoke on the altar, with the offerings by fire[a] to the Lord; it is a purification offering. 13 Thus the priest shall make atonement on your behalf for whichever of these sins you have committed, and you shall be forgiven. As with the grain offering, the rest shall be for the priest.”(I)
Some Sayings of Jesus
17 Jesus[a] said to his disciples, “Occasions for sin[b] are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come!(A) 2 It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to sin.[c](B) 3 Be on your guard! If a brother or sister sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive.(C) 4 And if the same person sins against you seven times a day and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive.”(D)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.