Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The vanity of life.
For the Chief Musician, for [a]Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
39 I said, I will take heed to my ways,
That I sin not with my tongue:
I will keep [b]my mouth with a bridle,
While the wicked is before me.
2 I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, [c]even from good;
And my sorrow was stirred.
3 My heart was hot within me;
While I was musing the fire burned;
Then spake I with my tongue:
4 Jehovah, make me to know mine end,
And the measure of my days, what it is;
Let me know how frail I am.
5 Behold, thou hast made my days as handbreadths;
And my life-time is as nothing before thee:
Surely every man [d]at his best estate is altogether [e]vanity. Selah
6 Surely every man walketh [f]in a vain show;
Surely they are disquieted [g]in vain:
He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.
7 And now, Lord, what wait I for?
My hope is in thee.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions:
Make me not the reproach of the foolish.
9 I was dumb, I opened not my mouth;
Because thou didst it.
10 Remove thy stroke away from me:
I am consumed by the [h]blow of thy hand.
11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity,
Thou [i]makest his beauty to consume away like a moth:
Surely every man is [j]vanity. Selah
12 Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, and give ear unto my cry;
Hold not thy peace at my tears:
For I am a stranger with thee,
A sojourner, as all my fathers were.
13 Oh [k]spare me, that I may [l]recover strength,
Before I go hence, and be no more.
12 But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
13 Man knoweth not the price thereof;
Neither is it found in the land of the living.
14 The deep saith, It is not in me;
And the sea saith, It is not with me.
15 It cannot be gotten for [a]gold,
Neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.
16 It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir,
With the precious [b]onyx, or the sapphire.
17 Gold and glass cannot equal it,
Neither shall it be exchanged for [c]jewels of fine gold.
18 No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal:
Yea, the price of wisdom is above [d]rubies.
19 The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it,
Neither shall it be valued with pure gold.
20 Whence then cometh wisdom?
And where is the place of understanding?
21 Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living,
And kept close from the birds of the heavens.
22 [e]Destruction and Death say,
We have heard a rumor thereof with our ears.
23 God understandeth the way thereof,
And he knoweth the place thereof.
24 For he looketh to the ends of the earth,
And seeth under the whole heaven;
25 [f]To make a weight for the wind:
Yea, he meteth out the waters by measure.
26 When he made a decree for the rain,
And a way for the lightning of the thunder;
27 Then did he see it, and [g]declare it;
He established it, yea, and searched it out.
28 And unto man he said,
Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
And to depart from evil is understanding.
29 And Job again took up his parable, and said,
2 Oh that I were as in the months of old,
As in the days when God watched over me;
3 When his lamp shined [h]upon my head,
And by his light I walked through darkness;
4 As I was in [i]the ripeness of my days,
When the [j]friendship of God was upon my tent;
5 When the Almighty was yet with me,
And my children were about me;
6 When my steps were washed with butter,
And the rock poured me out streams of oil!
7 When I went forth to the gate unto the city,
When I prepared my seat in the [k]street,
8 The young men saw me and hid themselves,
And the aged rose up and stood;
9 The princes refrained from talking,
And laid their hand on their mouth;
10 The voice of the nobles was [l]hushed,
And their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
8 And when he opened the seventh seal, there followed a silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. 2 And I saw the seven angels that stand before God; and there were given unto them seven trumpets.
3 And another angel came and stood [a]over the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should [b]add it unto the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, [c]with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. 5 And the angel [d]taketh the censer; and he filled it with the fire of the altar, and cast it [e]upon the earth: and there followed thunders, and voices, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
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