Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Brevity of Human Life
For the music director. For Jeduthun.[a] A psalm of David.[b]
39 I said, “I will guard my ways
that I may not sin[c] with my tongue.
I will keep a muzzle over my mouth
as long as the wicked are before me.”
2 I was mute with silence. I was silent even from saying good things,
and my pain was stirred up.
3 My heart grew hot inside me;
in my sighing a fire burned.
Then I spoke with my tongue,
4 “Let me know, O Yahweh, my end,
and what is the measure of my days.
Let me know how transient I am.”
5 Look, you have made my days mere handbreadths,
and my lifespan as nothing next to you.
Surely every person standing firm is complete vanity. Selah
6 Surely a man walks about as a mere shadow;[d]
surely in vain they bustle about.
He heaps up possessions but does not know who will gather them in.
7 And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?
My hope is for you.
8 From all my transgressions deliver me;
do not make me the taunt of the fool.
9 I am mute. I do not open my mouth,
for you, yourself, have done it.
10 Remove from me your affliction.
By the opposition of your hand I perish.
11 When with rebukes you chastise a man for sin,
you[e] consume[f] like a moth his delightful things.
Surely everyone is a mere vapor.[g] Selah
12 Hear my prayer, O Yahweh, and listen to my cry for help;
do not be deaf to my tears.
For I am an alien[h] with you,
a sojourner like all my ancestors.[i]
13 Look away from me that I may be cheerful,
before I depart and I am no more.
Parable of Two Eagles and a Vine
17 And the word of Yahweh came[a] to me, saying,[b] 2 “Son of man,[c] tell a riddle and quote a proverb to the house of Israel, 3 and you must say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “The great eagle with great wings and long feathers[d] and full of variegated plumage[e] came to Lebanon and he took the treetop of the cedar. 4 He plucked the top of its new plant shoot, and he brought it to the land of Canaan and put it in a city of merchants, 5 and he took from the seed of the land and placed it in fertile soil[f] on[g] many waters; like a willow he planted it. 6 And it sprouted, and it became a vine spreading out,[h] low of height, turning its branches to him, and its roots were under it, and it became a vine,[i] and it made[j] branches, and it sent out foliage.
7 “‘“And there was another great eagle, great of wings and with abundant plumage, and look! This vine stretched out its roots toward him and extended its branches to him to water it from the garden bed where it was planted.[k] 8 It was planted in[l] a good field by[m] many waters[n] to produce branches[o] and to bear fruit to become[p] a beautiful vine.”’[q] 9 Say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Will it prosper? Will he not tear out its roots, and will he not make its fruit scaly, and it will wither, and all of the freshness of its vegetation will dry up? And to lift it from its roots will not require great strength or many people.[r] 10 And look! Though it is planted, will it prosper? When the east wind strikes it,[s] will it not dry up completely? On the garden bed of its vegetation it will dry up!”’”
12 For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be declared righteous.[a] 14 For whenever the Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things of the law, these, although they[b] do not have the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written on their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts one after another accusing or even defending them 16 on the day when God judges the secret things of people, according to my gospel, through[c] Christ Jesus.
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