Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Sacrifice of Thanks
Psalm 50
1 A psalm of Asaph.
God, Elohim Adonai has spoken and summoned the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.
3 Our God comes, and does not keep silent.
A fire is devouring before Him,
and it storms around Him mightily.
4 He calls to the heavens above
and to the earth, to judge His people:
5 “Gather My kedoshim to Me,
who cut a covenant with Me with a sacrifice.”
6 The heavens declare His righteousness,
for God Himself is Judge. Selah
7 “Hear, My people, and I will speak,
O Israel, and I will testify against you:
I am God, your God.
8 I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices,
for your burnt offerings are continually before Me.
9 I have no need of a bull from your house
nor goats from your pens.
10 For every beast of the forest is Mine,
and the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know every bird of the mountains.
Everything moving in the field is Mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you—
for the world is Mine and all it contains!
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer God a sacrifice of thank offerings,
then fulfill your vows to Elyon.
15 Call upon Me in the day of trouble.
When I rescue you, you will honor Me.”
16 But to the wicked, God says:
“What are you doing, reciting My laws
and taking My covenant in your mouth?
17 For you hate discipline,
and you cast My words behind you.
18 When you see a thief, you are pleased with him,
and your portion is with adulterers.
19 You have unleashed your mouth for evil
and harnessed your tongue for deceit.
20 You sit, speaking against your brother,
slandering your own mother’s son.
21 These things you have done—Should I keep silent?
You thought I was just like you—but I reprove you,
and set the case before your eyes.
22 Now consider this, you who forget God.
Or else I will tear you in pieces with no one to rescue you.
23 A sacrifice of praise honors Me,
and to the one who orders his way,
I will show the salvation of God.”
Justice and Chesed
7 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of Adonai came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, in Kislev. 2 Now Bethel sent Sarezer and Regem-melech together with his men to seek the favor of Adonai, 3 and to speak to the kohanim of the House of Adonai-Tzva’ot and to the prophets saying, “Should I mourn and consecrate myself in the fifth month as I have done for so many years?”
4 Then the word of Adonai-Tzva’ot came to me saying: 5 “Speak to all the people of the land and to the kohanim saying, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh months for the past seventy years, did you really fast for Me? 6 When you eat and drink, are you not eating and drinking for yourself? 7 Are not these the words that Adonai proclaimed through the former prophets when Jerusalem with its surrounding cities were inhabited and prosperous, when the Negev and the lowland were inhabited?’”
8 Again the word of Adonai came to Zechariah saying, 9 “Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot: ‘Administer true judgment and practice mercy and compassion each to his brother. 10 Do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the outsider or the poor. Furthermore, do not let any of you devise evil against one another in your heart.’
11 “But they refused to pay attention. They stubbornly turned their backs and stopped their ears from hearing. 12 Indeed, they made their hearts as hard as flint preventing them from hearing the Torah or the words that Adonai-Tzva’ot sent by His Ruach through the former prophets. Consequently, great wrath came from Adonai-Tzva’ot. 13 It came about that just as He called and they did not listen, so they would call and I would not listen,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot. 14 ‘I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations they have not known. Thus the land was left so desolate behind them that no one passed through or returned, for they made the pleasant land desolate.’”
5 Now I wish to remind you—though you have come to know all things—that the Lord,[a] once having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels—who did not keep their own position of authority but deserted their proper place—He has kept in everlasting shackles under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great Day. [b] 7 In the same way as these angels, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them—having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after a different sort of flesh—are displayed as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.[c]
8 Yet in the same way these people also, by their visionary dreaming, defile the flesh, reject the Lord’s authority,[d] and defame glorious beings. 9 But when Michael the archangel, disputing with the devil, was arguing about the body of Moses, he did not dare to render a judgment against him for slander, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!” [e] 10 But these people slander whatever they do not understand. And whatever they do understand instinctively—like animals without reason—by these things they are destroyed.
11 Woe to them! For they went the way of Cain; they were consumed for pay in Balaam’s error; and in Korah’s rebellion they have been destroyed. [f] 12 These people are hidden rocky reefs at your love feasts—shamelessly feasting with you, tending only to themselves.[g] They are waterless clouds, carried along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, doubly dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame;[h] wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.[i]
14 It was also about these people that Enoch, the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with myriads of His kedoshim, [j] 15 to execute judgment against all. He will convict all the ungodly for all their ungodly deeds that they have done in an ungodly way, and for all of the harsh things ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
16 These are bellyaching grumblers, following after their own desires. Their mouth speaks grandiose things, showing favoritism for the sake of gain. 17 But you, loved ones, ought to remember the words previously proclaimed by the emissaries of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah[k]— 18 how they kept telling you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following after their own ungodly desires.” [l] 19 These are the ones who cause divisions—worldly-minded, not having the Ruach
20 But you, loved ones, continue building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Ruach ha-Kodesh. 21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, eagerly waiting for the mercy of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah that leads to eternal life.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.