Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Song of Praise

101 I will sing of loving-kindness and of what is right and fair. I will sing praises to You, O Lord. ² I will be careful to live a life without blame. When will You come to me? I will walk within my house with a right and good heart. ³ I will set no sinful thing in front of my eyes. I hate the work of those who are not faithful. It will not get hold of me. ⁴ A sinful heart will be far from me. I will have nothing to do with sin. ⁵ I will stop whoever talks against his neighbor in secret. I will not listen to anyone who has a proud look and a proud heart.

⁶ My eyes will look with favor on the faithful in the land, so they may serve me. He who walks without blame will help me. ⁷ He whose ways are false will not live in my house. He who tells lies will not stand in front of me. ⁸ I will destroy all the sinful in the land every morning. I will cut off all those who do wrong from the city of the Lord.

¹⁹ Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘This is what the great king of Assyria says. “What is this strength of heart that you have? ²⁰ You say with empty words, ‘I have wisdom and strength for war.’ On whom do you trust, that you have turned against me? ²¹ Look, you are trusting now in Egypt. It is a walking stick like a piece of broken river-grass. It will cut into a man’s hand if he rests on it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. ²² You might tell me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God.’ But is it not He Whose high places and altars Hezekiah has taken away? And has he not said to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship in front of this altar in Jerusalem’? ²³ Come now, make an agreement with my ruler the king of Assyria. And I will give you 2,000 horses, if you are able to put horsemen on them. ²⁴ How can you fight back one captain among the least of my ruler’s servants, when you trust Egypt for war-wagons and horsemen? ²⁵ Have I come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”

Hezekiah Talks to Isaiah

19 When King Hezekiah heard about it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with cloth made from hair. Then he went into the house of the Lord. ² He sent Eliakim who was the head of the house, Shebna the writer, and the head religious leaders, to the man of God Isaiah the son of Amoz. They were covered with cloth made from hair. ³ And they said to him, “Hezekiah says, ‘This day is a day of trouble, sharp words, and shame. For children have come to be born, but there is no strength to give birth to them. ⁴ It might be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom his ruler the king of Assyria has sent to make fun of the living God. And the Lord your God might speak sharp words against what He has heard. So pray for those who are left of the Lord’s people.’” ⁵ The servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. ⁶ And Isaiah said to them, “Tell your ruler, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Do not be afraid because of the words you have heard spoken against Me by the servants of the king of Assyria. ⁷ See, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a made-up story and he will return to his own land. And I will have him killed by the sword in his own land.”’”

Jesus Teaches about Keeping the Law ^(A)

¹⁸ A leader of the people asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to have life that lasts forever?” ¹⁹ Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? There is only One Who is good. That is God. ²⁰ You know the Laws. You must not do any sex sins. You must not kill another person. You must not steal. You must not tell a lie about someone else. Respect your father and your mother.” ²¹ The leader said, “I have obeyed all these Laws since I was a boy.”

²² When Jesus heard this, He said to the leader of the people, “There is still one thing you need to do. Sell everything you have. Give the money to poor people. Then you will have riches in heaven. Come and follow Me.” ²³ When the leader heard this, he was very sad because he had many riches. ²⁴ When Jesus saw that he was very sad, He said, “It is hard for those with riches to go into the holy nation of God! ²⁵ It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go into the holy nation of God.”

²⁶ Those who heard this, said, “Then who can be saved from the punishment of sin?” ²⁷ Jesus said, “God can do things men cannot do.” ²⁸ Then Peter said, “See, we have left everything and have followed You.” ²⁹ Jesus said to them, “For sure, I tell you, anyone who has left his house or parents or brothers or wife or children because of the holy nation of God ³⁰ will receive much more now. In the time to come he will have life that lasts forever.”