Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Prayer for Help in Time of Trouble
17 Hear what is right, O Lord. Listen to my cry. Hear my prayer, for it does not come from lying lips. 2 May You decide in my favor. May Your eyes see what is right. 3 You have tested my heart. You have visited me during the night. You have tested me and have found nothing wrong. I have decided that my mouth will not sin. 4 As for the actions of men, by the word of Your lips, I have kept myself from the paths of those who want to hurt others. 5 My steps have followed Your paths. My feet have not turned from them.
6 I have called to You, O God, for You will answer me. Listen to me and hear my words. 7 Show Your great loving-kindness. You save by Your right hand the people that come to You for help from those who hate them. 8 Keep me safe as You would Your own eye. Hide me in the shadow of Your wings, 9 from the sinful who fight against me, those who would kill me and are all around me. 10 They have closed their fat hearts to pity. And their mouths speak with pride. 11 They have followed our every step and are all around us. They are watching for a way to bring us down to the ground. 12 He is like a hungry lion, like a young lion hiding and waiting.
13 Rise up, O Lord. Stand against him. Bring him down. Save me from the sinful with Your sword. 14 O Lord, save me by Your hand from such men. Their riches are in this life. Their stomach is filled with what you have stored for them. Their children are filled. Let them leave some for their babies. 15 As for me, I will see Your face in what is right and good. I will be happy to see You when I awake.
5 The Lord says, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man, who trusts in the flesh for his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord. 6 For he will be like a bush in the desert and will not see when good comes. He will live in dry wastes in the desert, in a land of salt where no other people live. 7 Good will come to the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is in the Lord. 8 He will be like a tree planted by the water, that sends out its roots by the river. It will not be afraid when the heat comes but its leaves will be green. It will not be troubled in a dry year, or stop giving fruit.
9 “The heart is fooled more than anything else, and is very sinful. Who can know how bad it is? 10 I the Lord look into the heart, and test the mind. I give to each man what he should have because of his ways and because of the fruit that comes from his works. 11 As a bird that sits on eggs which it has not laid, so is he who gets rich by doing wrong. When his life is half over, they will leave him, and in the end he will be a fool.”
12 A beautiful throne on high from the beginning is our holy place. 13 O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who leave You will be put to shame. Those who turn away from You will be written in the earth, because they have left the Lord, the well of living water.
Jeremiah Prays for Help
14 Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed. Save me and I will be saved. For You are my praise. 15 They say to me, “Where is the Word of the Lord? Let it come now!” 16 But as for me, I have not run away from being a shepherd who follows You. And I have not been hoping for the day of trouble. You know what I said was spoken in front of You. 17 Do not make me afraid of You. You are my safe place in the day of trouble. 18 Let those who make it hard for me be put to shame, but do not let me be put to shame. Let them be afraid, but do not let me be afraid. Bring on them a day of trouble, and destroy them with twice as much!
A Nation That Cannot Stand (A)
22 Then they brought to Him a man who had a demon. He was blind and could not speak. Jesus healed him and he could talk and see. 23 All the people were surprised and said, “Can this Man be the Son of David?” 24 But when the proud religious law-keepers heard it, they said, “This Man puts out demons only by Satan, the leader of demons.”
25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every nation divided into groups that fight each other is going to be destroyed. Every city or family divided into groups that fight each other will not stand. 26 If the devil puts out the devil, he is divided against himself. How will his nation stand? 27 If I put out demons by Satan, by whom do your followers put them out? So your followers will say if you are guilty. 28 But if I put out demons by the Spirit of God, then the holy nation of God is come to you. 29 How can anyone go into a strong man’s house and take away his things, unless he ties up the strong man first? Only then can he take things from his house.
The Sin That Cannot Be Forgiven
30 “Whoever is not with Me is against Me. Whoever is not gathering with Me is sending everywhere. 31 I tell you, every sin and every bad word men speak against God will be forgiven, but bad words spoken against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven in this life or in the life to come.
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