Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Book 4: Psalms 90–106
God Is Eternal, and We Are Not
A prayer of Moses, the man of God.
90 Lord, you have been our ·home [dwelling place; Deut. 33:27]
·since the beginning [L from all generations].
2 Before the mountains were born
and before you ·created [brought forth] the earth and the world,
you are God [Prov. 8:22–31].
You have always been, and you will always be.
3 You turn people back into ·dust [L what is crushed; Gen. 2:7; 3:19; Eccl. 12:7].
You say, “·Go back into dust [L Return; Turn back], human beings.”
4 ·To you [L In your eyes], a thousand years
is like the passing of a day [2 Pet. 3:8],
or ·like a few hours [L a watch; C the night was divided into four watches of three hours each] in the night.
5 While people sleep, you ·take [put an end to] their lives.
They are like grass that ·grows up [is new] in the morning.
6 In the morning they ·are fresh and new [blossom and are renewed],
but by evening they ·dry up [fade] and ·die [wither].
13 Lord, how long before you ·return [turn]
and show ·kindness [compassion] to your servants?
14 ·Fill [Satisfy] us with your ·love [loyalty] every morning.
Then we will sing and rejoice all our ·lives [L days].
15 We have seen years of ·trouble [harm; hurt].
Now give us as ·much [L many days of] joy as you gave us ·sorrow [affliction].
16 Show your servants ·the wonderful things you do [your miracles];
·show your greatness [your splendor/beauty] to their children.
17 Lord our God, ·treat us well [favor us].
·Give us success in what we do [L Establish the work of our hands for us];
·yes, give us success in what we do [L establish the work of our hands].
The Lord Calls Moses and Joshua
14 The Lord said to Moses, “·Soon you will [L Look, the day is approaching for you to] die. ·Get [Call] Joshua and ·come [present him] to the Meeting Tent so that I may command him.” So Moses and Joshua ·went to [presented themselves at] the Meeting Tent.
15 The Lord appeared at the Meeting Tent in a pillar of cloud; the pillar of cloud stood over the entrance of the Tent [C representing the presence of God; Ex. 13:21; 40:34–38]. 16 And the Lord said to Moses, “You will soon ·die [L lie down/T sleep with your fathers]. Then these people will ·not be loyal to me but will worship [L prostitute themselves with] the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will ·leave [abandon; forsake] me, breaking the ·Agreement [Covenant; Treaty] I ·made [L cut] with them. 17 ·Then [L On that day] I will become very angry at them, and I will ·leave [abandon; forsake] them. I will ·turn away [L hide my face] from them, and they will be ·destroyed [devoured; consumed]. Many terrible things will happen to them. ·Then [L On that day] they will say, ‘·It is [L Is it not…?] because God is not with us that these terrible things are happening.’ 18 I will surely ·turn away [L hide my face] from them ·then [L on that day], because they have done wrong and have turned to other gods.
19 “Now write down this song and teach it to the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel]. ·Then have them sing it [L Place it in their mouth], because it will be my witness against ·them [L the sons/T children of Israel]. 20 When I bring them into the land I ·promised [swore] to their ·ancestors [fathers], a ·fertile land [L land flowing with milk and honey; Ex. 3:8], they will eat as much as they want and get fat. Then they will turn to other gods and serve them. They will ·reject [despise] me and break my ·Agreement [Covenant; Treaty]. 21 Then when many troubles and terrible things happen to them, this song will testify against them, because the song will not be forgotten by their ·descendants [L seed]. I know what they ·plan [incline; Gen. 6:5; 8:21] to do, even before I take them into the land I ·promised [swore to] them.” 22 So Moses wrote down the song that day, and he taught it to the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel].
Titus’ Work in Crete
5 I left you in Crete [C an island in the Mediterranean southeast of Greece] so you could ·finish doing [organize; straighten out] the things that still needed to be done and so you could appoint elders in every ·town [city], as I directed you. 6 An elder [1 Tim. 3:1–7] must ·not be guilty of doing wrong [be blameless], must ·have only one wife [or be faithful to his wife], and must have ·believing [or faithful] children. They must not be ·known as children who are [accused of being] ·wild [reckless] and ·do not cooperate [unruly; undisciplined; rebellious]. 7 As God’s ·managers [stewards], overseers [C probably the same church office as elder; 1 Tim. 3:1, 6, 7; 5:17] must be ·innocent of wrongdoing [blameless], ·unselfish [not arrogant/self-willed], not ·quick-tempered [easily angered]. They must not ·drink too much wine [be a drunkard], ·like to fight [be violent/a brawler], or ·try to get rich by cheating others [be greedy for gain/dishonest in business]. 8 Overseers must be ·ready to welcome guests [hospitable], love what is good, be ·wise [self-controlled; sensible], ·live right [upright; just], and be ·holy [devout] and ·self-controlled [disciplined]. 9 By holding ·on [firmly] to the ·trustworthy [faithful] ·word [message] just as it was taught to them, overseers can ·encourage [exhort] people with ·true [sound; healthy] teaching, and they can ·correct [reprove; refute] those who are against it.
10 There are many ·people who refuse to cooperate [unruly/rebellious people], who talk about ·worthless [empty; useless] things and ·lead others into the wrong way [deceive others]—·mainly [especially] those ·who insist on circumcision to be saved [or among the Jewish Christians; L of the circumcision]. 11 These people must be ·stopped [L silenced], because they are ·upsetting [misleading; ruining; overthrowing] whole families by teaching things they should not teach, which they do ·to get rich by cheating people [for dishonest gain]. 12 Even one of their own prophets said, “Cretans are always liars, evil ·animals [beasts], and lazy ·people who do nothing but eat [gluttons; C a quote from Epimenides, a poet from Crete (sixth century bc)].” 13 ·The words that prophet said are [L This testimony is] true. So ·firmly [severely; sharply] ·tell those people they are wrong [rebuke/admonish them] so they may become ·strong [sound; healthy] in the faith, 14 not ·accepting [paying attention to; wasting time with] Jewish ·false stories [myths; 1 Tim. 1:4; 4:7; 2 Tim. 4:4] and the commands of people who ·reject [turn their backs on] the truth. 15 To those who are pure, all things are pure, but to those who are ·full of sin [defiled; polluted (with sin)] and ·do not believe [unfaithful], nothing is pure. Both their minds and their consciences have been ·ruined [defiled; polluted]. 16 They ·say [claim; confess] they know God, but their actions show they ·do not accept [deny] him. They are ·hateful people [detestable; abominable], they refuse to obey, and they are ·useless [unfit; disqualified] for doing anything good.
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