Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

1 The revelation which Habakkuk the prophet saw. ² Yahweh,^[a] how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you “Violence!” and will you not save? ³ Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up. ⁴ Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails; for the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted.

2 I will stand at my watch and set myself on the ramparts, and will look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

² Yahweh answered me, “Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it. ³ For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won’t prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it, because it will surely come. It won’t delay. ⁴ Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith.

By David.

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ^[a] through the will of God, according to the promise of the life which is in Christ Jesus, ² to Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

³ I thank God, whom I serve as my forefathers did, with a pure conscience. How unceasing is my memory of you in my petitions, night and day ⁴ longing to see you, remembering your tears, that I may be filled with joy; ⁵ having been reminded of the sincere faith that is in you, which lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, in you also.

⁶ For this cause, I remind you that you should stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. ⁷ For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control. ⁸ Therefore don’t be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner; but endure hardship for the Good News according to the power of God, ⁹ who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before times eternal, ¹⁰ but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the Good News. ¹¹ For this I was appointed as a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. ¹² For this cause I also suffer these things.

Yet I am not ashamed, for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed to him against that day.

¹³ Hold the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴ That good thing which was committed to you, guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

⁵ The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”

⁶ The Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you would tell this sycamore tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. ⁷ But who is there among you, having a servant plowing or keeping sheep, that will say when he comes in from the field, ‘Come immediately and sit down at the table’? ⁸ Wouldn’t he rather tell him, ‘Prepare my supper, clothe yourself properly, and serve me while I eat and drink. Afterward you shall eat and drink’? ⁹ Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded? I think not. ¹⁰ Even so you also, when you have done all the things that are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy servants. We have done our duty.’”