Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Chapter 14
Everyone Born of Woman . . .[a]
1 “Everyone born of woman
has life that is short and filled with troubles.
2 He blossoms like a flower and soon begins to wither;
as fleeting as a shadow, he does not endure.
3 Is it upon a creature like this that you fix your gaze
and bring him before you to be judged?
4 “Can a man be found who has avoided defilement?
There is no such person.
5 The extent of his life has already been determined,
and the number of his months is known to you;
you have established the limits that he cannot pass.
6 Turn your gaze away from him and leave him alone
so that, like a hired laborer, he may complete his days.
7 “At least for a tree there is always hope:
if it is cut down, it may sprout once again,
and its new shoots may burst with life.
8 Although its roots age in the earth
and its stump dies in the ground,
9 once it scents water it will begin to bud
and put forth branches like a sapling.
10 “But when a man dies, he remains lifeless;
what is his fate once he expires?
11 As occurs when the waters of a lake recede
or a river ceases to flow and runs dry,
12 so men lie down and never rise again;
until the heavens cease to exist, they will not awaken
or be stirred out of their slumber.
Hide Me in the Netherworld[b]
13 “How I wish you would hide me in the netherworld
and shelter me until your wrath has subsided
while designating a time to call me to mind.
14 If one who dies were permitted to live once again,
I would willingly endure all the days of my service
waiting for my relief to arrive.
Chapter 3
The Enduring Love of the Lord
1 [a]I am a man who has known affliction
under the rod of God’s wrath.
2 He has led me and forced me to walk
in darkness, not in the light.
3 Against me alone he has turned his hand
again and again, throughout the day.
4 He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away;
he has broken my bones.
5 He has besieged me and enveloped me
with bitterness and hardship.
6 He has forced me to dwell in darkness
like those long dead.
7 He has walled me in so that I cannot escape,
and he weighed me down with heavy chains.
8 Even when I cry out and plead for help,
he shuts out my prayer.
9 He has barred my way with blocks of stones
and obstructed my paths.
19 The realization of my poverty and homelessness
is wormwood and gall to me.
20 My soul continually reflects on this
and is left downcast within me.
21 However, I will call this to mind
as the reason for my hope:
22 [a]The love of the Lord is never exhausted,
nor do his deeds of mercy ever come to an end.
23 They are renewed every morning;
his faithfulness never ceases.
24 The Lord is my portion, I say to myself;
therefore, I will place my hope in him.
Psalm 31[a]
Prayer of Trust and Thanksgiving
1 For the director.[b] A psalm of David.
2 [c]In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame;
in your righteousness deliver me.
3 Turn your ear to me,
and act quickly to save me.
Be to me a rock[d] of refuge,
a strong fortress to save me.
4 You are truly my rock and my fortress;
for the sake of your name,[e] lead and guide me.
15 But I place my trust in you, O Lord.
I say, “You are my God.”
16 My life is in your hands;[a]
deliver me from the power of my enemies,
from the clutches of those who pursue me.
Chapter 4
1 Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh, you should arm yourselves also with the same intention. For anyone who has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin 2 and for the remainder of life on earth must be ruled not by human passions but by the will of God.
3 You have already spent enough time in doing what the Gentiles like to do, pursuing a life of debauchery, licentiousness, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and sacrilegious idolatry. 4 They are surprised that you no longer join them in a life of dissipation, and they revile you as a result. 5 However, they will have to render an account to him who stands ready to judge[a] the living and the dead.
6 And this is the reason why the gospel was preached even to the dead, so that, although they might be judged in the flesh like men, they might enjoy the life of God in the spirit.
Qualities of a Christian Community Waiting for Christ.[b] 7 The end of all things is near. Therefore, lead disciplined lives and be watchful in prayer. 8 Above all, maintain the fervor of your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
57 Jesus Is Placed in the Tomb.[a] When evening came, there arrived a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. 58 He went to Pilate and requested the body of Jesus. So Pilate ordered that it be handed over to him.
59 Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen shroud, 60 and laid it in his own new tomb that he had hewn out of the rock. He then rolled an immense stone against the entrance of the tomb and departed. 61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the sepulcher.
62 The Guard at the Tomb. The next day, on the morning after the preparation day,[b] the chief priests and the Pharisees came to Pilate in a group 63 and said to him, “Your Excellency, we recall that while he was still alive, this impostor said, ‘After three days I will be raised up.’ 64 Therefore, issue orders that the tomb be kept under surveillance until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may go there and steal his body, and then tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead.’ This final deception would be worse than the first.”
65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard. Go and make the grave as secure as you can.” 66 And so they went forth and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and posting a guard.
38 Jesus Is Buried.[a] Shortly thereafter, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate for permission to remove the body of Jesus. Pilate granted him permission, and so he came and took his body away.
39 Nicodemus, who had first come to Jesus at night, also came, bringing with him a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds.[b] 40 They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, in accordance with the burial custom of the Jews.
41 At the place where Jesus had been crucified there was a garden, and in that garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been buried. 42 And so, since it was the Jewish day of Preparation and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
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