Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Praise for the Lord’s Kindness
113 Praise the Lord!
Praise him, you servants of the Lord;
praise the name of the Lord.
2 The Lord’s name should be praised
now and forever.
3 The Lord’s name should be praised
from where the sun rises to where it sets.
4 The Lord is supreme over all the nations;
his glory reaches to the skies.
5 No one is like the Lord our God,
who rules from heaven,
6 who bends down to look
at the skies and the earth.
7 The Lord lifts the poor from the dirt
and takes the helpless from the ashes.
8 He seats them with princes,
the princes of his people.
9 He gives children to the woman who has none
and makes her a happy mother.
Praise the Lord!
Israel Is Worthless
17 The Lord spoke his word to me, saying: 18 “Human, the people of Israel have become useless like scum to me. They are like the copper, tin, iron, and lead left in the furnace when silver is purified. 19 So this is what the Lord God says: ‘Because you have become useless like scum, I am going to put you together inside Jerusalem. 20 People put silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin together inside a furnace to melt them down in a blazing fire. In the same way I will gather you in my hot anger and put you together in Jerusalem and melt you down. 21 I will put you together and make you feel the heat of my anger. You will be melted down inside Jerusalem. 22 As silver is melted in a furnace, you will be melted inside the city. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out my anger on you.’”
Sins of the People
23 The Lord spoke his word to me, saying: 24 “Human, say to the land, ‘You are a land that has not had rain or showers when God is angry.’ 25 Like a roaring lion that tears the animal it has caught, Israel’s rulers make evil plans. They have destroyed lives and have taken treasure and valuable things. They have caused many women to become widows. 26 Israel’s priests do cruel things to my teachings and do not honor my holy things. They make no difference between holy and unholy things, and they teach there is no difference between clean and unclean things. They do not remember my Sabbaths, so I am dishonored by them. 27 Like wolves tearing a dead animal, Jerusalem’s leaders have killed people for profit. 28 And the prophets try to cover this up by false visions and by lying messages. They say, ‘This is what the Lord God says’ when the Lord has not spoken. 29 The people cheat others and steal. They hurt people who are poor and needy. They cheat foreigners and do not treat them fairly.
30 “I looked for someone to build up the walls and to stand before me where the walls are broken to defend these people so I would not have to destroy them. But I could not find anyone. 31 So I let them see my anger. I destroyed them with an anger that was like fire because of all the things they have done, says the Lord God.”
God’s Love in Christ Jesus
31 So what should we say about this? If God is for us, no one can defeat us. 32 He did not spare his own Son but gave him for us all. So with Jesus, God will surely give us all things. 33 Who can accuse the people God has chosen? No one, because God is the One who makes them right. 34 Who can say God’s people are guilty? No one, because Christ Jesus died, but he was also raised from the dead, and now he is on God’s right side, appealing to God for us. 35 Can anything separate us from the love Christ has for us? Can troubles or problems or sufferings or hunger or nakedness or danger or violent death? 36 As it is written in the Scriptures:
“For you we are in danger of death all the time.
People think we are worth no more than sheep to be killed.” Psalm 44:22
37 But in all these things we are completely victorious through God who showed his love for us. 38 Yes, I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor ruling spirits, nothing now, nothing in the future, no powers, 39 nothing above us, nothing below us, nor anything else in the whole world will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.