Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 39
For the Music Director. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
1 I said, “I will take heed of my ways
so that I do not sin with my tongue;
I will keep my mouth muzzled
while the wicked are before me.”
2 I was speechless in silence;
I was silent to no avail,
but my anguish was stirred up.
3 My heart was hot within me;
while I was musing, the fire burned,
then I spoke with my tongue:
4 “Lord, make me to know my end,
and what is the measure of my days,
that I may know how transient I am.
5 Indeed, You have made my days as a handbreadth,
and my age is as nothing before You;
indeed every man at his best is as a breath.” Selah
6 Surely every man walks in a mere shadow;
surely he goes as a breath;
he heaps up riches, and does not know who will gather them.
7 Now, Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in You.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions;
do not make me the reproach of the foolish.
9 I was speechless, I did not open my mouth,
because You did it.
10 Remove Your blow from me;
I am consumed by the hostility of Your hand.
11 When with rebukes You correct a man for iniquity,
You consume like a moth what is dear to him;
surely every man is vapor. Selah
12 Hear my prayer, O Lord,
and give ear to my cry;
do not be silent at my tears,
for I am a stranger with You,
and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
13 Turn Your gaze of displeasure from me, that I may smile,
before I go away and am no more.
The Broken Covenant
11 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2 Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 3 And say you to them, Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant, 4 which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey My voice, and do according to all which I command you. So you shall be My people, and I will be your God, 5 that I may perform the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.
Then I answered and said, “So be it, O Lord.”
6 Then the Lord said to me: Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: saying, Hear the words of this covenant, and do them. 7 For I earnestly warned your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising early and warning, saying, Obey My voice. 8 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the imagination of their evil heart. Therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but which they did not do.
9 The Lord said to me: A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers who refused to hear My words. And they have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers. 11 Therefore thus says the Lord, Surely, I will bring calamity upon them which they will not be able to escape. And though they cry to Me, I will not listen to them. 12 Then the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to whom they offer incense. But they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble. 13 For according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah. And according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense to Baal.
14 Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them. For I will not hear them in the time that they cry to Me because of their trouble.
15 What right has My beloved in My house,
seeing that she has done many lewd deeds?
Can the sacrificial meat take away from you your disaster,
so that you can rejoice while doing evil?
16 The Lord called your name,
“A green olive tree, fair in fruit and form.”
With the noise of a great tumult
He has kindled fire upon it,
and its branches are broken.
17 For the Lord of Hosts, who planted you, has pronounced disaster against you, because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke Me to anger in offering incense to Baal.
The Righteous Judgment of God
2 Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judges, for when you judge another, you condemn yourself, for you who judge do the same things. 2 But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who commit such things. 3 Do you think, O man, who judges those who do such things, and who does the same thing, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Do you despise the riches of His goodness, tolerance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
5 But because of your hardness and impenitent heart, you are storing up treasures of wrath against yourself on the day of wrath when the righteous judgment of God will be revealed, 6 and He “will render to every man according to his deeds.”[a] 7 To those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality will be eternal life. 8 But to those who are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation, and wrath, 9 will be tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man who does evil, to the Jew first, and then to the Gentile. 10 But glory, honor, and peace will be to every man who does good work—to the Jew first, and then to the Gentile, 11 for there is no partiality with God.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.