Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
He.
33
Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes,
And I will [steadfastly] observe it to the end.
34
Give me understanding [a teachable heart and the ability to learn], that I may keep Your law;
And observe it with all my heart.(A)
35
Make me walk in the path of Your commandments,
For I delight in it.
36
Incline my heart to Your testimonies
And not to dishonest gain and envy.(B)
37
Turn my eyes away from vanity [all those worldly, meaningless things that distract—let Your priorities be mine],
And restore me [with renewed energy] in Your ways.
38
Establish Your word and confirm Your promise to Your servant,
As that which produces [awe-inspired] reverence for You.(C)
39
Turn away my reproach which I dread,
For Your ordinances are good.
40
I long for Your precepts;
Renew me through Your righteousness.
The Watchman’s Duty
33 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, speak to the sons of your people [who are exiled in Babylon] and say to them, ‘If I bring a sword on a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, 3 and he sees the sword coming on the land, and he blows the trumpet and warns the people, 4 then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his [own] head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning; his blood shall be on himself. But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, he is taken away because of his corruption and sin; but I will require his blood from the watchman’s hand.’
29 “Woe to you, [self-righteous] scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build tombs for the prophets and decorate and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and you say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have joined them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the [allotted] measure of the guilt of your fathers’ sins. 33 You [a]serpents, you spawn of vipers, how can you escape the penalty of hell?
34 “Therefore, take notice, I am sending you prophets and wise men [interpreters, teachers] and scribes [men educated in the Mosaic Law and the writings of the prophets]; some of them you will kill and even crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues, and pursue and persecute from city to city, 35 so that on you will come the guilt of all the blood of the righteous shed on earth, from the blood of righteous [b]Abel to the blood of Zechariah [the priest], the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.(A) 36 I assure you and most solemnly say to you, [the judgment for] all these things [these vile and murderous deeds] will come on this generation.(B)
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