Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A psalm of David when he was in the Desert of Judah.
63 God, you are my God.
I seek you with all my heart.
With all my strength I thirst for you
in this dry desert
where there isn’t any water.
2 I have seen you in the sacred tent.
There I have seen your power and your glory.
3 Your love is better than life.
So I will bring glory to you with my lips.
4 I will praise you as long as I live.
I will call on your name when I lift up my hands in prayer.
5 I will be as satisfied as if I had eaten the best food there is.
I will sing praise to you with my mouth.
6 As I lie on my bed I remember you.
I think of you all night long.
7 Because you have helped me,
I sing in the shadow of your wings.
8 I hold on to you tightly.
Your powerful right hand takes good care of me.
Miriam and Aaron Speak Against Moses
12 Miriam and Aaron began to say bad things about Moses. That’s because Moses had married a woman from Cush. 2 “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” The Lord heard what they said.
3 Moses was a very humble man. In fact, he was more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.
4 The Lord spoke to Moses, Aaron and Miriam. He said, “All three of you, come out to the tent of meeting.” So they did. 5 Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud. He stood at the entrance to the tent. And he told Aaron and Miriam to come to him. The two of them stepped forward. 6 Then the Lord said, “Listen to my words.
“Suppose there is a prophet among you.
I, the Lord, make myself known to them in visions.
I speak to them in dreams.
7 But this is not true of my servant Moses.
He is faithful in everything he does in my house.
8 With Moses I speak face to face.
I speak with him clearly. I do not speak in riddles.
I let him see something of what I look like.
So why were you not afraid
to speak against my servant Moses?”
9 The Lord was very angry with them. And he left them.
Babylon’s Judgment Is Final
21 Then a mighty angel picked up a huge rock. It was the size of a large millstone. He threw it into the sea. Then he said,
“That is how
the great city of Babylon will be thrown down.
Never again will it be found.
22 The songs of musicians will never be heard in you again.
Gone will be the music of harps, flutes and trumpets.
No worker of any kind
will ever be found in you again.
The sound of a millstone
will never be heard in you again.
23 The light of a lamp
will never shine in you again.
The voices of brides and grooms
will never be heard in you again.
Your traders were among the world’s most important people.
By your magic spell all the nations were led astray.
24 You were guilty of the murder of prophets and God’s holy people.
You were guilty of the blood of all who have been killed on the earth.”
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