Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Psalm by Asaph.

7 In the fourth year of King Darius, Yahweh’s word came to Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev. ² The people of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem Melech and their men to entreat Yahweh’s favor, ³ and to speak to the priests of the house of Yahweh of Armies and to the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?”

⁴ Then the word of Yahweh of Armies came to me, saying, ⁵ “Speak to all the people of the land and to the priests, saying, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month for these seventy years, did you at all fast to me, really to me? ⁶ When you eat and when you drink, don’t you eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? ⁷ Aren’t these the words which Yahweh proclaimed by the former prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and its cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?’”

⁸ Yahweh’s word came to Zechariah, saying, ⁹ “Thus has Yahweh of Armies spoken, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother. ¹⁰ Don’t oppress the widow, the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’ ¹¹ But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. ¹² Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they might hear the law and the words which Yahweh of Armies had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from Yahweh of Armies. ¹³ It has come to pass that, as he called and they refused to listen, so they will call and I will not listen,” said Yahweh of Armies; ¹⁴ “but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned; for they made the pleasant land desolate.”

⁵ Now I desire to remind you, though you already know this, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who didn’t believe. ⁶ Angels who didn’t keep their first domain, but deserted their own dwelling place, he has kept in everlasting bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day. ⁷ Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, having in the same way as these given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are shown as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire. ⁸ Yet in the same way, these also in their dreaming defile the flesh, despise authority, and slander celestial beings. ⁹ But Michael, the archangel, when contending with the devil and arguing about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him an abusive condemnation, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!” ¹⁰ But these speak evil of whatever things they don’t know. They are destroyed in these things that they understand naturally, like the creatures without reason. ¹¹ Woe to them! For they went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire, and perished in Korah’s rebellion. ¹² These are hidden rocky reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you, shepherds who without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; ¹³ wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever. ¹⁴ About these also Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold,^[a] the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones, ¹⁵ to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” ¹⁶ These are murmurers and complainers, walking after their lusts—and their mouth speaks proud things—showing respect of persons to gain advantage.

¹⁷ But you, beloved, remember the words which have been spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ They said to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, walking after their own ungodly lusts.” ¹⁹ These are those who cause divisions and are sensual, not having the Spirit.

²⁰ But you, beloved, keep building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit. ²¹ Keep yourselves in God’s love, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.