Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
7 It is for your sake that I bear scorn.
Shame covers my face.
8 I have become a stranger to my brothers,
a foreigner to my mother’s sons.
9 Yes, zeal for your house consumes me.
The scorn of those who scorn you falls on me.
10 I wept as I fasted,
but this only brought insults to me.
11 When I wore sackcloth as my clothing,
I was a joke to them.
12 Those who sit in the gatehouse gossip about me,
and the songs of the drunks are about me.
An Interlude of Prayer
13 But I direct my prayer to you, O Lord, for a time of favor.
God, in the greatness of your mercy,
answer me with the certainty of salvation from you.
14 Rescue me from the mud, so I do not sink.
Let me escape from those who hate me and from the deep waters.
15 Do not let the rapids rush over me.
Do not let the deep swallow me up.
Do not let the pit close its mouth over me.
16 Answer me, Lord, for your mercy is good.
According to your great compassion, turn to me.
17 Do not hide your face from your servant.
Because I am in distress, hurry, answer me.
18 Come near. Redeem my soul.
Ransom me because of my enemies.
12 But they will say, “It is hopeless! Each of us will always walk in the stubbornness of his own evil heart.”
13 Therefore this is what the Lord says.
Ask among the nations,
“Who has ever heard anything like this?”
Virgin Israel has done a most terrible thing.
14 Does the snow of Lebanon ever disappear from its rocky slopes?
Does cold water flowing from a long distance ever run dry?
15 Yet my people have forgotten me.
They burn incense to false gods,
that make them stumble in their ways,
in the ancient paths.
They walk on side roads,
on roads not built up.
16 They make their land something horrible,
a target of lasting contempt.[a]
Everyone who passes by will be horrified and shake his head.
17 Like the east wind I will scatter them in front of their enemies.
I will show them my back and not my face on the day of their calamity.
God Put Everything Under His Control
5 For God did not place the coming world, about which we are speaking, under the control of angels. 6 But there is a place where someone has testified:
What is man that you remember him,
or the Son of Man[a] that you look after him?
7 You made him lower than the angels for a little while.[b]
You crowned him with glory and honor.[c]
8 You put everything in subjection under his feet.[d]
Indeed, in putting everything in subjection to him, God left nothing that is not in subjection to him. At the present time, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. 9 But we look to Jesus (the one who was made lower than the angels for a little while, so that by God’s grace he might taste death for everyone), now crowned with glory and honor, because he suffered death.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.