Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

39 I said, “I will take heed of my ways, that I sin not with my tongue; I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me.”

² I was dumb with silence; I held my peace, even from good, and my sorrow was stirred.

³ My heart was hot within me; while I was musing, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue:

⁴ “Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is, that I may know how frail I am.

⁵ Behold, Thou hast made my days as a handbreadth, and mine age is as nothing before Thee; verily every man in his best state is altogether vanity. Selah

⁶ “Surely every man walketh in a vain show; surely they are disquieted in vain; he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.

⁷ “And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in Thee.

⁸ Deliver me from all my transgressions; make me not the reproach of the foolish.

⁹ I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because Thou didst it.

¹⁰ Remove Thy stroke away from me; I am consumed by the blow of Thine hand.

¹¹ When with rebukes Thou dost correct man for iniquity, Thou makest his beauty to be consumed away like a moth; surely every man is vanity. Selah

¹² “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not Thy peace at my tears; for I am a stranger with Thee and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.

¹³ O spare me, that I may recover strength before I go hence and am no more.”

17 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

² “Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel,

³ and say, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers which had divers colors, came unto Lebanon and took the highest branch of the cedar.

⁴ He cropped off the top of it young twigs and carried it into a land of traffic; he set it in a city of merchants.

⁵ He took also of the seed of the land and planted it in a fruitful field. He placed it by great waters and set it as a willow tree.

⁶ And it grew and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him and the roots thereof were under him. So it became a vine, and brought forth branches and shot forth sprigs.

⁷ “‘There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers; and behold, this vine did bend her roots toward him and shot forth her branches toward him, that he might water it by the furrows of her planting.

⁸ It was planted in a good soil by great waters, that it might bring forth branches and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine.’

⁹ Say thou, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: Shall it prosper? Shall he not pull up the roots thereof and cut off the fruit thereof, that it wither? It shall wither in all the leaves of her spring, even without great power or many people to pluck it up by the roots thereof.

¹⁰ Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? Shall it not utterly wither when the east wind toucheth it? It shall wither in the furrows where it grew.’”

¹² For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law.

¹³ (For it is not the hearers of the law who are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

¹⁴ For when the Gentiles, who have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, they, not having the law, are a law unto themselves,

¹⁵ which shows the work of the law written in their hearts,their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts between accusing and excusing one another.)

¹⁶ Thus will it be on the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my Gospel.