Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
11 Teach me Your way, O Lord. I will walk in Your truth. May my heart fear Your name. 12 O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You with all my heart. I will bring honor to Your name forever. 13 For Your loving-kindness toward me is great. And You have saved my soul from the bottom of the grave.
14 O God, proud men have come up against me. A group of fighting men want to take my life. And they do not think of You. 15 But You, O Lord, are a God full of love and pity. You are slow to anger and rich in loving-kindness and truth. 16 Turn to me, and show me loving-kindness. Give Your strength to Your servant. And save the son of your woman servant. 17 Give me something special to see of Your favor. Then those who hate me may see it and be ashamed. Because You, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me.
21 “Let your cause be known,” says the Lord. “Bring what you have to prove it,” says the King of Jacob. 22 Let them bring what they have, and tell us what is going to happen. Let them tell us what has happened in the past, that we may think about it and know what will happen in the future. 23 Tell us what will happen after this, that we may know that you are gods. Yes, do good or bad, that we may together be afraid and fear. 24 See, you are nothing. And your work is nothing. He who chooses you is hated and sinful.
25 “I have called one from the north, and he has come. From the rising of the sun he will call on My name. He will step hard on rulers as on builder’s clay, as the pot-maker steps hard on clay.” 26 Who has said this from the beginning, that we might know, or from times long ago, that we might say, “He is right”? There was no one who said it, no one who made it known, no one who heard your words. 27 “Before I had said to Zion, ‘See, here they are,’ and to Jerusalem, ‘I will send someone to bring good news.’ 28 But I see that there is no one, even no wise man among them, who can answer My questions. 29 See, all of them are false. Their works are nothing. Their objects of worship are empty wind.
Do Not Wait to Be Saved from the Punishment of Sin
2 That is why we must listen all the more to the truths we have been told. If we do not, we may slip away from them. 2 These truths given by the angels proved to be true. People were punished when they did not obey them. 3 God was so good to make a way for us to be saved from the punishment of sin. What makes us think we will not go to hell if we do not take the way to heaven that He has made for us? The Lord was the first to tell us of this. Then those who heard Him told it later. 4 God proved what they said was true by showing us special things to see and by doing powerful works. He gave the gifts of the Holy Spirit as He wanted to.
Jesus, the Way to Heaven
5 God did not make angels to be the leaders of that world to come which we have been speaking about. 6 Instead, the Holy Writings say, “What is man that You think of him and the son of man that You should remember him?” (A) 7 “You made him so he took a place that was not as important as the angels for a little while. You gave him the crown of honor and shining-greatness. *You made him the head over everything You have made. 8 You have put everything under his feet.” (B) There is nothing that does not obey him, but we do not see all things obey him yet. 9 But we do see Jesus. For a little while He took a place that was not as important as the angels. But God had loving-favor for everyone. He had Jesus suffer death on a cross for all of us. Then, because of Christ’s death on a cross, God gave Him the crown of honor and shining-greatness.
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