Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
God Wants True Worship
A psalm of Asaph.
50 The God of gods, the Lord, speaks.
He calls the earth from the rising to the setting sun.
2 God shines from Jerusalem,
whose beauty is perfect.
3 Our God comes, and he will not be silent.
A fire burns in front of him,
and a powerful storm surrounds him.
4 He calls to the sky above and to the earth
that he might judge his people.
5 He says, “Gather around, you who worship me,
who have made an agreement with me, using a sacrifice.”
6 God is the judge,
and even the skies say he is right. Selah
7 God says, “My people, listen to me;
Israel, I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
8 I do not scold you for your sacrifices.
You always bring me your burnt offerings.
9 But I do not need bulls from your stalls
or goats from your pens,
10 because every animal of the forest is already mine.
The cattle on a thousand hills are mine.
11 I know every bird on the mountains,
and every living thing in the fields is mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
because the earth and everything in it are mine.
13 I don’t eat the meat of bulls
or drink the blood of goats.
14 Give an offering to show thanks to God.
Give God Most High what you have promised.
15 Call to me in times of trouble.
I will save you, and you will honor me.”
16 But God says to the wicked,
“Why do you talk about my laws?
Why do you mention my agreement?
17 You hate my teachings
and turn your back on what I say.
18 When you see a thief, you join him.
You take part in adultery.
19 You don’t stop your mouth from speaking evil,
and your tongue makes up lies.
20 You speak against your brother
and lie about your mother’s son.
21 I have kept quiet while you did these things,
so you thought I was just like you.
But I will scold you
and accuse you to your face.
22 “Think about this, you who forget God.
Otherwise, I will tear you apart,
and no one will save you.
23 Those people honor me
who bring me offerings to show thanks.
And I, God, will save those who do that.”
12 I know your many crimes,
your terrible sins.
You hurt people who do right,
you take money to do wrong,
and you keep the poor from getting justice in court.
13 In such times the wise person will keep quiet,
because it is a bad time.
14 Try to do good, not evil,
so that you will live,
and the Lord God All-Powerful will be with you
just as you say he is.
15 Hate evil and love good;
be fair in the courts.
Maybe the Lord God All-Powerful will be kind
to the people of Joseph who are left alive.
16 This is what the Lord, the Lord God All-Powerful, says:
“People will be crying in all the streets;
they will be saying, ‘Oh, no!’ in the public places.
They will call the farmers to come and weep
and will pay people to cry out loud for them.
17 People will be crying in all the vineyards,
because I will pass among you to punish you,” says the Lord.
The Lord’s Day of Judging
18 How terrible it will be for you who want
the Lord’s day of judging to come.
Why do you want that day to come?
It will bring darkness for you, not light.
19 It will be like someone who runs from a lion
and meets a bear,
or like someone who goes into his house
and puts his hand on the wall,
and then is bitten by a snake.
20 So the Lord’s day of judging will bring darkness, not light;
it will be very dark, not light at all.
21 The Lord says, “I hate and reject your feasts;
I cannot stand your religious meetings.
22 If you offer me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I won’t accept them.
You bring your best fellowship offerings of fattened cattle,
but I will ignore them.
23 Take the noise of your songs away from me!
I won’t listen to the music of your harps.
24 But let justice flow like a river,
and let goodness flow like a never-ending stream.
A Story About Three Servants
11 As the people were listening to this, Jesus told them a story because he was near Jerusalem and they thought God’s kingdom would appear immediately. 12 He said: “A very important man went to a country far away to be made a king and then to return home. 13 So he called ten of his servants and gave a coin[a] to each servant. He said, ‘Do business with this money until I get back.’ 14 But the people in the kingdom hated the man. So they sent a group to follow him and say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’
15 “But the man became king. When he returned home, he said, ‘Call those servants who have my money so I can know how much they earned with it.’
16 “The first servant came and said, ‘Sir, I earned ten coins with the one you gave me.’ 17 The king said to the servant, ‘Excellent! You are a good servant. Since I can trust you with small things, I will let you rule over ten of my cities.’
18 “The second servant said, ‘Sir, I earned five coins with your one.’ 19 The king said to this servant, ‘You can rule over five cities.’
20 “Then another servant came in and said to the king, ‘Sir, here is your coin which I wrapped in a piece of cloth and hid. 21 I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You even take money that you didn’t earn and gather food that you didn’t plant.’ 22 Then the king said to the servant, ‘I will condemn you by your own words, you evil servant. You knew that I am a hard man, taking money that I didn’t earn and gathering food that I didn’t plant. 23 Why then didn’t you put my money in the bank? Then when I came back, my money would have earned some interest.’
24 “The king said to the men who were standing by, ‘Take the coin away from this servant and give it to the servant who earned ten coins.’ 25 They said, ‘But sir, that servant already has ten coins.’ 26 The king said, ‘Those who have will be given more, but those who do not have anything will have everything taken away from them. 27 Now where are my enemies who didn’t want me to be king? Bring them here and kill them before me.’”
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.