Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

^{[a] 6} I asked, ‘Where are you going?’

He answered me, ‘To measure Jerusalem to see how wide and how long it is.’^[b]

⁷ Then behold, the angel speaking with me left and another angel went out to meet him, ⁸ saying to him, ‘Run, speak to this young man saying: “Jerusalem will be inhabited as a village without walls because of the great number of men and livestock in it. ⁹ For I”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“will be a wall of fire around it and I will be the glory inside it. ¹⁰ Oy, oy! Flee from the land of the north”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“because I scattered you like the four winds of heaven”—it is a declaration of Adonai. ¹¹ “Oy, Zion! Escape, you who are living with the daughter of Babylon.”

¹² “For thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, He has sent me after glory to the nations that plundered you—because whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye— ¹³ ‘For behold, I will shake My hand against them and they will be plunder to their servants.’ Then you will know that Adonai-Tzva’ot has sent me.

⁷ What shall we say then? Is the Torah sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the Torah. For I would not have known about coveting if the Torah had not said, “You shall not covet.” ^{[a] 8} But sin, taking an opportunity, worked in me through the commandment all kinds of coveting. For apart from the Torah, sin is dead.

⁹ Once I was alive apart from the Torah; but when the commandment came, sin came to life ¹⁰ and I died. The commandment meant for life was found to cause death. ^{[b] 11} Sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. ^{[c] 12} So then, the Torah is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

¹³ Therefore did that which is good become death to me? May it never be! Rather it was sin working death in me—through that which is good—so that sin might be shown to be sin, and that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. ¹⁴ For we know that the Torah is spiritual; but I am of the flesh, sold to sin. ¹⁵ For I do not understand what I am doing—for what I do not want, this I practice; but what I hate, this I do. ¹⁶ But if I do what I do not want to do, then I agree with the Torah—that it is good.

¹⁷ So now it is no longer I doing it, but sin dwelling in me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells in me—that is, in my flesh. For to will is present in me, but to do the good is not. ¹⁹ For the good that I want, I do not do; but the evil that I do not want, this I practice. ²⁰ But if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I doing it, but sin that dwells in me.