Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

God’s Rule

82 God takes His stand in the great meeting of His people. He judges among the rulers. ² How long will you rulers be wrong in how you judge? How long will you show favor to the sinful? ³ Do the right thing for the weak and those without a father. Stand up for the rights of those who are suffering and in need. ⁴ Save the weak and those in need. Set them free from the hand of the sinful.

⁵ They know nothing; they understand nothing. They walk around in the dark. All that the earth is built upon is shaking. ⁶ I said, “You are gods. You are all sons of the Most High. ⁷ But you will die like men, and fall like one of the princes.”

⁸ Rise up, O God! Say who is guilty or not guilty upon the earth! For all the nations belong to You.

The Special Box Returned to Israel

6 The special box of the Lord had been in the country of the Philistines seven months. ² The Philistines called for the religious leaders and those who were wise in secret ways, saying, “What should we do with the special box of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it to its place.” ³ And they said, “If you send away the special box of the God of Israel, do not send it empty. But be sure to return to Him a sin gift. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why His hand does not turn away from you.” ⁴ Then they said, “What should we return to Him for a sin gift?” And they said, “Five sores made of gold and five gold mice, as many as there are Philistine leaders. For the same trouble was upon all of you and on your leaders. ⁵ So make objects to look like your sores and your mice that destroyed the land, and you will give honor to the God of Israel. It may be that He will be easier on you, your gods, and your land. ⁶ Why do you make your hearts hard as the Egyptians and Pharaoh made their hearts hard? Do not forget how the God of Israel made it hard for them. And did they not let the people go? ⁷ So now take and make ready a new wagon and two milk cows that have never pulled a load. Tie the cows to the wagon and take their calves away from them. ⁸ Take the special box of the Lord and put it on the wagon. Put the objects of gold which you return to Him as a sin gift in a box by its side. Then send it away, and let it be gone. ⁹ And watch. If it goes on the way to its own land, to Bethshemesh, then He has done this very bad thing to us. But if not, then we will know that it was not His hand that destroyed us. It will have just happened for no reason.”

¹⁰ The men did so. They took two milk cows and tied them to the wagon, and shut up their calves at home. ¹¹ They put the special box of the Lord on the wagon, and the box with the gold mice and the objects made to look like their sores. ¹² And the cows went straight toward Bethshemesh. They went along the straight road, making a sound as they went. They did not turn aside to the right or to the left. And the leaders of the Philistines followed them to the outside of Bethshemesh. ¹³ Now the people of Bethshemesh were gathering their grain in the valley. They looked up and saw the special box of the Lord, and were glad to see it. ¹⁴ The wagon came into the field of Joshua the Bethshemite and stopped there by a big stone. They cut the wood of the wagon into pieces and gave the cows as a burnt gift to the Lord. ¹⁵ The Levites took down the special box of the Lord and the box that was with it that had the objects of gold, and put them on the big stone. The men of Bethshemesh gave burnt gifts in worship that day to the Lord. ¹⁶ When the five leaders of the Philistines saw it, they returned that day to Ekron.

Days of Trouble and Pain and Sorrow

¹⁵ “You will see a sinful man-made god standing in the house of God in Jerusalem. It was spoken of by the early preacher Daniel. ^(A) The one who reads this should understand it. ¹⁶ Then those in the country of Judea should run to the mountains. ¹⁷ The man who is on the top of his house should not come down to take anything out of his house. ¹⁸ The man who is in the field should not go back to get his coat. ¹⁹ It will be hard for a woman who will soon be a mother. It will be hard for the ones feeding babies in those days! ²⁰ Pray that you will not have to go in the winter or on the Day of Rest. ²¹ In those days there will be very much trouble and pain and sorrow. It has never been this bad from the beginning of the world and never will be again. ²² If the time had not been made short, no life would have been saved. Because of God’s people, the time will be made short.

The False Religious Teachers

²³ “If anyone says to you, ‘See! Here is the Christ!’ or ‘There He is!’ do not believe it. ²⁴ People who say they are Christ and false preachers will come. They will do special things for people to see. They will do great things, so that if it can be done, God’s people will be fooled to believe something wrong. ²⁵ Listen! I have told you before it comes. ²⁶ If they tell you, ‘See! He is in the desert,’ do not go to see. Or if they say, ‘See! He is in the inside room,’ do not believe them. ²⁷ The Son of Man will come as fast as lightning shines across the sky from east to west.