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.

Following False Gods Is Sinful

⁹ All who make objects to worship are for nothing. The things they think are worth much are worth nothing. Those who speak for them do not see or know, so they will be put to shame. ¹⁰ Who has made a false god or an object of worship that is of no worth? ¹¹ See, all his friends will be put to shame, for the workmen themselves are only men. Let them all gather, let them stand up, let them shake with fear, and let them together be put to shame.

¹² The one who works with iron makes a sharp tool for cutting, working over a fire. He makes it by beating it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry and has no strength. He drinks no water and becomes tired. ¹³ One works with wood, he marks it, and draws on it with a red marker. He makes it smooth and makes it like a man, like the beauty of a man, so that it may sit in a house. ¹⁴ He cuts down cedar trees, and takes a cypress or an oak, and lets it grow strong among the trees. He plants a fir tree, and the rain makes it grow. ¹⁵ Then it becomes something for a man to burn, so he takes one of them and warms himself. He makes a fire to bake bread. He also makes a god and worships it. He makes an object of worship and bows down in front of it. ¹⁶ He burns half of it in the fire. Over this half he eats meat as he makes it ready, and is filled. He also warms himself and says, “O, I am warm. I see the fire.” ¹⁷ But he makes the rest of it into a god, his object of worship. He bows down in front of it and worships. He prays to it and says, “Bring me out of my trouble, for you are my god.”

God’s Promise

¹³ When God made a promise to Abraham, He made that promise in His own name because no one was greater. ¹⁴ He said, “I will make you happy in so many ways. For sure, I will give you many children.” ^{(A) 15} Abraham was willing to wait and God gave to him what He had promised.

¹⁶ When men make a promise, they use a name greater than themselves. They do this to make sure they will do what they promise. In this way, no one argues about it. ¹⁷ And so God made a promise. He wanted to show Abraham that He would never change His mind. So He made the promise in His own name. ¹⁸ God gave these two things that cannot be changed and God cannot lie. We who have turned to Him can have great comfort knowing that He will do what He has promised. ¹⁹ This hope is a safe anchor for our souls. It will never move. This hope goes into the Holiest Place of All behind the curtain of heaven. ²⁰ Jesus has already gone there. He has become our Religious Leader forever and has made the way for man to go to God. He is like Melchizedek.