Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 63
Praise God Who Satisfies
A psalm of David. When he was in the Wilderness of Judah.(A)
1 God, you are my God; I eagerly seek you.
I thirst for you;
my body faints for you
in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water.(B)
2 So I gaze on you in the sanctuary
to see your strength and your glory.(C)
Miriam and Aaron Rebel
12 Miriam(A) and Aaron criticized Moses because of the Cushite woman he married (for he had married a Cushite woman). 2 They said, “Does the Lord speak only through Moses? Does he not also speak through us?” And the Lord heard it. 3 Moses was a very humble man, more so than anyone on the face of the earth.
4 Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “You three come out to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them went out. 5 Then the Lord descended in a pillar of cloud,(B) stood at the entrance to the tent, and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them came forward, 6 he said:
“Listen to what I say:
If there is a prophet among you from the Lord,
I make myself known to him in a vision;(C)
I speak with him in a dream.
7 Not so with my servant Moses;
he is faithful in[a] all my household.(D)
8 I speak with him(E) directly,[b]
openly, and not in riddles;
he sees the form of the Lord.(F)
So why were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” 9 The Lord’s anger burned against them,(G) and he left.
The Finality of Babylon’s Fall
21 Then a mighty angel(A) picked up a stone like a large millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,
In this way, Babylon the great city
will be thrown down violently(B)
and never be found again.(C)
22 The sound of harpists, musicians,
flutists, and trumpeters
will never be heard in you again;(D)
no craftsman of any trade
will ever be found in you again;
the sound of a mill
will never be heard in you again;
23 the light of a lamp
will never shine in you again;
and the voice of a groom and bride
will never be heard in you again.(E)
All this will happen
because your merchants
were the nobility of the earth,
because all the nations were deceived
by your sorcery.
24 In her was found the blood of prophets and saints,(F)
and of all those slaughtered on the earth.(G)
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