Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Fourth Book—Psalms 90–106
Psalm 90[a]
God’s Eternity and Human Frailty
1 A prayer of Moses, the man of God.
I
Lord, you have been our refuge
through all generations.
2 Before the mountains were born,
the earth and the world brought forth,
from eternity to eternity you are God.(A)
3 You turn humanity back into dust,[b]
saying, “Return, you children of Adam!”(B)
4 A thousand years in your eyes
are merely a day gone by,(C)
Before a watch passes in the night,
5 [c]you wash them away;(D)
They sleep,
and in the morning they sprout again like an herb.
6 In the morning it blooms only to pass away;
in the evening it is wilted and withered.[d](E)
III
13 Relent, O Lord! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
14 Fill us at daybreak with your mercy,(A)
that all our days we may sing for joy.
15 Make us glad as many days as you humbled us,
for as many years as we have seen trouble.(B)
16 Show your deeds to your servants,
your glory to their children.
17 May the favor of the Lord our God be ours.(C)
Prosper the work of our hands!
Prosper the work of our hands!
Chapter 32
1 [a]Give ear, O heavens, and let me speak;
let the earth hear the words of my mouth!(A)
2 May my teaching soak in like the rain,
and my utterance drench like the dew,
Like a downpour upon the grass,
like a shower upon the crops.
3 For I will proclaim the name of the Lord,
praise the greatness of our God!
4 The Rock—how faultless are his deeds,
how right all his ways!
A faithful God, without deceit,
just and upright is he!(B)
5 Yet his degenerate children have treated him basely,
a twisted and crooked generation!(C)
6 Is this how you repay the Lord,
so foolish and unwise a people?
Is he not your father who begot you,
the one who made and established you?(D)
7 Remember the days of old,
consider the years of generations past.
Ask your father, he will inform you,
your elders, they will tell you:(E)
8 When the Most High allotted each nation its heritage,
when he separated out human beings,(F)
He set up the boundaries of the peoples
after the number of the divine beings;[b]
9 But the Lord’s portion was his people;
his allotted share was Jacob.(G)
10 He found them in a wilderness,
a wasteland of howling desert.
He shielded them, cared for them,
guarded them as the apple of his eye.(H)
11 As an eagle incites its nestlings,
hovering over its young,
So he spread his wings, took them,
bore them upon his pinions.(I)
12 The Lord alone guided them,
no foreign god was with them.(J)
13 (K)He had them mount the summits of the land,[c]
fed them the produce of its fields;
He suckled them with honey from the crags
and olive oil from the flinty rock;
14 Butter from cows and milk from sheep,
with the best of lambs;
Bashan[d] bulls and goats,
with the cream of finest wheat;
and the foaming blood of grapes you drank.
18 You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you,
you forgot the God who gave you birth.(A)
7 showing yourself as a model of good deeds in every respect, with integrity in your teaching, dignity, 8 and sound speech that cannot be criticized, so that the opponent will be put to shame without anything bad to say about us.
Transformation of Life. 11 [a]For the grace of God has appeared, saving all(A) 12 and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, 13 as we await the blessed hope, the appearance[b] of the glory of the great God and of our savior Jesus Christ,(B) 14 who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people as his own, eager to do what is good.(C)
15 Say these things. Exhort and correct with all authority. Let no one look down on you.(D)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.