Isaiah 38:10-20 (NRSV)
I
said: In the noontide of my days
I must depart;
I am consigned
to the gates of Sheol
for the rest of my years.
I said, I shall not
see the LORD
in the land of the living;
I shall look upon mortals
no more
among the inhabitants of the world.
My dwelling is plucked
up and removed from me
like a shepherd's tent;
like a weaver I have
rolled up my life;
he cuts me off from the loom;
from day to night
you bring me to an end;
I cry for help until morning;
like a lion
he breaks all my bones;
from day to night you bring me to an end.
Like
a swallow or a crane I clamor,
I moan like a dove.
My eyes are weary
with looking upward.
O LORD, I am oppressed; be my security!
But
what can I say? For he has spoken to me,
and he himself has done it.
All my sleep has fled
because of the bitterness of my soul.
O LORD,
by these things people live,
and in all these is the life of my spirit.
Oh, restore me to health and make me live!
Surely it was for my welfare
that I had great bitterness;
but you have held back my life
from
the pit of destruction,
for you have cast all my sins
behind your
back.
For Sheol cannot thank you,
death cannot praise you;
those
who go down to the Pit cannot hope
for your faithfulness.
The living,
the living, they thank you,
as I do this day;
fathers make known
to children
your faithfulness.
The LORD will save me,
and we
will sing to stringed instruments
all the days of our lives,
at the
house of the LORD.
ELCA's daily Bible readings are chosen from
"Revised
Common Lectionary Daily Readings," prepared by Consultation
on the Common Texts, © 2005.
All text is from the New Revised Standard
Version Bible, copyrighted, 1989 by the Division
of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches USA,
and is used by permission. All rights reserved.
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