Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
An Evening Prayer
141 I call upon You, O Lord. Hurry to me! Hear my voice when I call to You! 2 May my prayer be like special perfume before You. May the lifting up of my hands be like the evening gift given on the altar in worship. 3 O Lord, put a watch over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips. 4 Do not let my heart turn to any sinful thing, to do wrong with men who sin. And do not let me eat their fine food.
5 Let those who are right with God punish me and speak strong words to me in kindness. It is oil upon my head. Do not let my head turn away from it. Yet my prayer is always against the sinful works of those who sin. 6 When their rulers are thrown down from high rocks, they will hear my words, for they are true. 7 Our bones have been spread around the mouth of the grave like the broken ground behind the plow.
8 For my eyes are toward You, O God the Lord. In You I have a safe place. Do not leave me without help. 9 Keep me from the trap they have set for me. Keep me from the nets of those who do wrong. 10 Let the sinful fall into their own nets, while I pass by and am safe.
The Land Is Given Back to Israel
21 “I will show My greatness among the nations. All the nations will see how I have punished Israel and My hand which I have laid on them. 22 Then the people of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God from that day on. 23 The nations will know that the people of Israel were taken from their land because of their sin, because they were not faithful to Me. So I hid My face from them and gave them over to those who hated them, and they died in battle. 24 I punished them because they were unclean and sinful, and I hid My face from them.”’”
25 So the Lord God says, “Now I will return the people of Jacob to their land and show loving-kindness to all the people of Israel. And I will be jealous for My holy name. 26 They will forget their shame and how unfaithful they were to Me, when they live in peace on their own land with no one to make them afraid. 27 I will bring them back from the nations and gather them from the lands of those who hate them. In this way I will show the many nations that I am holy. 28 Then they will know that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them away into the other nations and then gathered them again to their own land. And I will not leave any of them there any longer. 29 I will not hide My face from them again, for I will pour out My Spirit on the people of Israel,” says the Lord God.
A New House of God
40 It was the twenty-fifth year since the people of Israel were taken away to a strange land, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month, and fourteen years since Jerusalem was taken in battle. On that day the hand of the Lord was upon me and He brought me there. 2 In a special way God brought me into the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain. There were some buildings on its south side that looked like a city. 3 He took me there, and I saw a man who looked like he was made of brass. In his hand was a linen rope and a stick to find how long something is. He was standing at the gate. 4 And the man said to me, “Son of man, look with your eyes, hear with your ears, and think about all I am going to show you. For you have been brought here so that I may show it to you. Tell the people of Israel everything you see.”
23 We are allowed to do anything, but not everything is good for us to do. We are allowed to do anything, but not all things help us grow strong as Christians. 24 Do not work only for your own good. Think of what you can do for others. 25 Eat any meat that is sold in the stores. Ask no questions about it. Then your heart will not say it is wrong. 26 The Holy Writings say, “The earth and everything in it belongs to the Lord.” (A) 27 If a person who is not a Christian wants you to eat with him, and you want to go, eat anything that is on the table. Ask no questions about the food. Then your heart will not say it is wrong. 28 But if someone says, “This meat has been given as a gift to false gods in worship,” do not eat it. In that way, it will not hurt the faith of the one who told you and his heart will have peace. 29 How the other person feels is important. We are not free to do things that will hurt another person. 30 If I can give thanks to God for my food, why should anyone say that I am wrong about eating food I can give thanks for? 31 So if you eat or drink or whatever you do, do everything to honor God. 32 Do nothing that would make trouble for a Greek or for a Jew or for the church of God. 33 I want to please everyone in all that I do. I am not thinking of myself. I want to do what is best for them so they may be saved from the punishment of sin.
11 Follow my way of thinking as I follow Christ.
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