Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Prayer to Be Kept Safe from Enemies
25 I lift up my soul to You, O Lord. 2 O my God, I trust in You. Do not let me be ashamed. Do not let those who fight against me win. 3 Yes, let no one who hopes in You be put to shame. But put to shame those who hurt others without a reason.
4 Show me Your ways, O Lord. Teach me Your paths. 5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me. For You are the God Who saves me. I wait for You all day long. 6 Remember Your loving-pity and Your loving-kindness, O Lord. For they have been from old. 7 Do not remember my sins from when I was young, or my sinful ways. By Your loving-kindness remember me for You are good, O Lord.
8 Good and right is the Lord. So He teaches sinners in His ways. 9 He leads those without pride into what is right, and teaches them His way.
17 The Word of the Lord came to me, saying, 18 “Son of man, shake in fear as you eat your bread and drink your water. 19 Then tell the people of the land, ‘This is what the Lord God says about the people of Jerusalem in the land of Israel: “They will be afraid as they eat their bread, and drink their water in fear. For their land will lay waste because of the fighting of all who live in it. 20 The cities where people live will be laid waste, and the land will be destroyed. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”’”
21 The Word of the Lord came to me, saying, 22 “Son of man, what is this saying you people have about the land of Israel, which says, ‘The days are long and every special dream comes to nothing’? 23 Tell them, ‘The Lord God says, “I will make this saying come to an end, so that they will no longer use it as a saying in Israel.’” But tell them, ‘The days are near when all the special dreams from God will come true. 24 For there will be no more false dreams or good sounding words that do not come true. 25 For I the Lord will speak, and whatever I say will be done. It will no longer be held back. For in your days, O sinful people, I will speak the word and do it,’ says the Lord God.”
26 Again the Word of the Lord came to me, saying, 27 “Son of man, the people of Israel are saying, ‘The special dream he sees will not come to pass for many years. He is speaking of times far in the future.’ 28 So tell them, ‘The Lord God says, “None of My words will be held back any longer. Whatever I say will be done,’” says the Lord God.”
Do Not Talk Against Each Other
11 Christian brothers, do not talk against anyone or speak bad things about each other. If a person says bad things about his brother, he is speaking against him. And he will be speaking against God’s Law. If you say the Law is wrong, and do not obey it, you are saying you are better than the Law. 12 Only God can say what is right or wrong. He made the Law. He can save or put to death. How can we say if our brother is right or wrong?
13 Listen! You who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this city and stay a year and make money.” 14 You do not know about tomorrow. What is your life? It is like fog. You see it and soon it is gone. 15 What you should say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” 16 But instead you are proud. You talk loud and big about yourselves. All such pride is sin.
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