Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
11 O Eternal One, guide me along Your path
so that I will live in Your truth.
Unite my divided heart so that I will fear Your great name.
12 O Lord, my God! I praise You with all that I am.
I will rightly honor Your great name forever.
13 For Your loyal love for me is so great it is beyond comparison.
You have rescued my soul from the depths of the grave.
14 O True God, arrogant people are after me.
A violent gang wants to kill me;
they have no interest in You or Your ways.
15 But Lord, You are a God full of compassion, generous in grace,
slow to anger, and boundless in loyal love and truth.
16 Look at me, and grant me Your favor.
Invest Your strength in me, Your servant,
and rescue me, Your handmaiden’s child.
17 Give me a sign so I may know Your goodness rests on me
and so those who hate me will be red with shame at the sight of it.
For You, O Eternal One, have come to my aid and offered me relief.
18-19 So we see again how it is that they’re blind—their eyes shut to the truth in front of them, their hearts and minds refusing to think and really understand what’s going on. So without stopping to think about it, the fool says, “Gosh, I used half of the wood to build a fire, and baked the bread and roasted the meat over its hot coals. After I eat, I think I’ll use the rest of it to make a repulsive god. Maybe I’ll bow down to this leftover lumber.” 20 A fool like this is feeding on ashes—his addled mind and deceived heart lead him nowhere. He can’t figure out how to save himself, much less see the error of his ways and say, “Is this idol in my right hand just a lie?”
Eternal One: Let that be a lesson to you, My people.
15 Along the way, watch out for false prophets. They will come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath that quaint and innocent wool, they are hungry wolves. 16 But you will recognize them by their fruits. You don’t find sweet, delicious grapes growing on thorny bushes, do you? You don’t find delectable figs growing in the midst of prickly thistles. 17 People and their lives are like trees. Good trees bear beautiful, tasty fruit, but bad trees bear ugly, bitter fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear ugly, bitter fruit; nor can a bad tree bear fruit that is beautiful and tasty. 19 And what happens to the rotten trees? They are cut down. They are used for firewood. 20 When a prophet comes to you and preaches this or that, look for his fruits: sweet or sour? rotten or ripe?
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.