Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
God the Judge
For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A song of Asaph.
75 God, we thank you.
We thank you because you are near.
We tell about the wonderful things you do.
2 You say, “I set the time for trial.
I will judge fairly.
3 The earth with all its people may shake.
I am the one who holds it steady. Selah
4 I say to those who are proud, ‘Don’t brag.’
I say to the wicked, ‘Don’t show your power.
5 Don’t try to use your power against heaven.
Don’t be stubborn.’”
6 No one from the east or the west
or the desert can judge you.
7 God is the judge.
He judges one person as guilty, and another as innocent.
8 The Lord holds a cup of anger in his hand.
It is full of wine mixed with spices.
He pours it out even to the last drop.
And the wicked drink it all.
9 I will tell about this forever.
I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.
10 He will take all power away from the wicked.
But the power of good people will grow.
Jerusalem Will Be Punished
3 How terrible it will be for Jerusalem that hurts its own people.
It’s a wicked, stubborn city.
2 Her people don’t listen.
They can’t be taught to do right.
They don’t trust the Lord.
They don’t worship their God.
3 Their officers are like roaring lions.
Their rulers are like hungry wolves that attack in the evening.
In the morning nothing is left of those they attacked.
4 Their prophets are proud.
They cannot be trusted.
Their priests don’t respect holy things.
They break God’s teachings.
5 But the Lord is good, and he is there in that city.
He does no wrong.
Every morning he governs the people fairly.
Every day he can be trusted by his people.
But evil people are not ashamed of the bad things they do.
6 “I have destroyed other nations.
Their towers have fallen.
I made their streets empty.
No one goes there anymore.
Their cities are ruined.
No one lives there anymore.
7 I said, ‘Maybe now Jerusalem will respect me.
Maybe now my people will let me teach them to do right.’
Then the place where they lived would not be destroyed.
Then I would not have punished them.
They got up early in order to do evil.
Everything they did was bad.
8 Just wait,” says the Lord.
“Some day I will hold court and be the judge.
I will gather nations.
I will assemble kingdoms.
I will pour out my anger on them.
My anger will be very strong.
My anger will be like fire.
And the whole world will be burned up.
A New Day for God’s People
9 “Then I will make the people of all nations speak a pure language.
All of them will speak the name of the Lord.
And they will worship me together.
10 People will come from where the Nile River begins.
My scattered people will come with gifts for me.
11 Then Jerusalem will not be ashamed
of the wrongs done against me.
I will remove from this city
those who like to brag.
There will never be any more proud people
on my holy mountain in Jerusalem.
12 Only the meek and humble will
stay in my city.
And they will trust in the Lord.
13 Those who are left alive of Israel won’t do wrong.
They won’t tell lies.
They won’t trick people with their words.
They will be like sheep that eat and lie down.
No one will bother them.”
The Example of Hagar and Sarah
21 Some of you people still want to be under the law of Moses. Tell me, do you know what the law says? 22 The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons. The mother of one son was a slave woman. The mother of the other son was a free woman. 23 Abraham’s son from the slave woman was born in the normal human way. But the son from the free woman was born because of the promise God made to Abraham.
24 This makes a picture for us. The two women are like the two agreements between God and men. One agreement is the law that God made on Mount Sinai.[a] The people who are under this agreement are like slaves. The mother named Hagar is like that agreement. 25 She is like Mount Sinai in Arabia and is a picture of the earthly Jewish city of Jerusalem. This city is a slave, and all its people are slaves to the law. 26 But the heavenly Jerusalem which is above is like the free woman. She is our mother. 27 It is written in the Scriptures:
“Be happy, Jerusalem.
You are like a woman who never gave birth to children.
Start singing and shout for joy.
You never felt the pain of giving birth to children.
But you will have more children
than the woman who has a husband.” Isaiah 54:1
28 My brothers, you are God’s children because of his promise, as Isaac was then. 29 The son who was born in the normal way treated the other son badly. It is the same today. 30 But what does the Scripture say? “Throw out the slave woman and her son! The son of the free woman will receive everything his father has. But the son of the slave woman will receive nothing.”[b] 31 So, my brothers, we are not children of the slave woman. We are children of the free woman.
Keep Your Freedom
5 We have freedom now because Christ made us free. So stand strong. Do not change and go back into the slavery of the law.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.