Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
David wrote this psalm when he was in the Judah wilderness.
A morning song[a]
63 God, you are my God.
I want to be near to you.
I need you to give me life,
like a thirsty person in a dry desert.
As a person needs water to live,
that is how I need you.[b]
2 When I have gone into your temple,
I have seen what you are like.
I have seen your great power and your glory.
3 Your faithful love for me is better than life itself.
So I will speak out to praise you.
4 Yes, I will thank you for as long as I live.
I will lift up my hands and I will pray to you.
5 You make me very happy,
better than a feast of good food.
I will sing happy songs to praise you.
6 When I lie on my bed,
I think about you all through the night.
7 You are the one who keeps me safe,
like a bird protects its babies under its wings.
So I sing happy songs.
8 I keep very near to you
and your strong right hand keeps me safe.
Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses
12 Moses had married a woman who was a descendant of Cush. Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because he had married that woman.[a] 2 They said, ‘We do not believe that the Lord has really spoken only by Moses. We believe that he has spoken by us too.’ The Lord heard what they said.
3 Moses was a very humble man. He was the most humble person in the whole world.
4 Immediately, the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, ‘You three people come out to the Tent of Meeting.’ So the three people went there. 5 Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud. He stood at the door of the tent. He said that Aaron and Miriam should come nearer. They both came nearer. 6 Then he said, ‘Listen to my words! If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will show myself to him in a vision. Or I will speak to him in a dream. 7 But it is different when I speak to Moses. He is the one that I trust to lead all my people. 8 I speak clearly to him, as I come near to him. I do not say things to him that are hard to understand. He even sees the shape of the Lord. So you should have been afraid to speak against my servant Moses!’
9 So the Lord was very angry with Aaron and Miriam and he left them.
21 Then a powerful angel picked up a very big, heavy stone. He threw it into the sea. He said,
‘God will throw you down, Babylon!
You are a great city, but God will throw you down like this stone.
Nobody will ever see you again!
22 Nobody will ever hear music in the city again.
Nobody will sing there.
Nobody will make music with harps, or with flutes, or with trumpets.
There will never be workers who make things in the city.
Nobody will ever hear the sound of people who make flour again.
23 No light from people's lamps will ever shine in the city again.
Nobody will ever hear the happy voices of a man and a woman when they marry.
Your traders were the most powerful people on the earth.
You used your magic to deceive people from all nations.
24 Your people killed God's people and his prophets.
Their blood lies on the ground in the city.
The blood of everyone on earth that people have killed is also there.
This shows that you are guilty of their murder.’[a]
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