Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
7 God All-Powerful, take us back.
Show us your kindness so we can be saved.
8 You brought us out of Egypt as if we were a vine.
You forced out other nations and planted us in the land.
9 You cleared the ground for us.
Like a vine, we took root and filled the land.
10 We covered the mountains with our shade.
We had limbs like the mighty cedar tree.
11 Our branches reached the Mediterranean Sea,
and our shoots went to the Euphrates River.
12 So why did you pull down our walls?
Now everyone who passes by steals from us.
13 Like wild pigs they walk over us;
like wild animals they feed on us.
14 God All-Powerful, come back.
Look down from heaven and see.
Take care of us, your vine.
15 You planted this shoot with your own hands
and strengthened this child.
Jerusalem Is Surrounded
6 “Run for your lives, people of Benjamin!
Run away from Jerusalem!
Blow the war trumpet in the town of Tekoa!
Raise the warning flag over the town of Beth Hakkerem!
Disaster is coming from the north;
terrible destruction is coming to you.
2 Jerusalem, I will destroy you,
you who are fragile and gentle.
3 Shepherds with their flocks will come against Jerusalem.
They will set up their tents all around her,
each shepherd taking care of his own section.”
4 They say, “Get ready to fight against Jerusalem!
Get up! We will attack at noon!
But it is already getting late;
the evening shadows are growing long.
5 So get up! We will attack at night.
We will destroy the strong towers of Jerusalem!”
6 This is what the Lord All-Powerful says:
“Cut down the trees around Jerusalem,
and build an attack ramp to the top of its walls.
This city must be punished.
Inside it is nothing but slavery.
7 Jerusalem pours out her evil
as a well pours out its water.
The sounds of violence and destruction are heard within her.
I can see the sickness and hurts of Jerusalem.
8 Listen to this warning, Jerusalem,
or I will turn my back on you
and make your land an empty desert
where no one can live.”
9 This is what the Lord All-Powerful says:
“Gather the few people of Israel who are left alive,
as you would gather the last grapes on a grapevine.
Check each vine again,
like someone who gathers grapes.”
10 To whom can I speak? Whom can I warn?
Who will listen to me?
The people of Israel have closed ears,
so they cannot hear my warnings.
They don’t like the word of the Lord;
they don’t want to listen to it!
The People Argue About Jesus
40 When the people heard Jesus’ words, some of them said, “This man really is the Prophet.”[a]
41 Others said, “He is the Christ.”
Still others said, “The Christ will not come from Galilee. 42 The Scripture says that the Christ will come from David’s family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived.” 43 So the people did not agree with each other about Jesus. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one was able to touch him.
Some Leaders Won’t Believe
45 The Temple guards went back to the leading priests and the Pharisees, who asked, “Why didn’t you bring Jesus?”
46 The guards answered, “The words he says are greater than the words of any other person who has ever spoken!”
47 The Pharisees answered, “So Jesus has fooled you also! 48 Have any of the leaders or the Pharisees believed in him? No! 49 But these people, who know nothing about the law, are under God’s curse.”
50 Nicodemus, who had gone to see Jesus before, was in that group.[b] He said, 51 “Our law does not judge a person without hearing him and knowing what he has done.”
52 They answered, “Are you from Galilee, too? Study the Scriptures, and you will learn that no prophet comes from Galilee.”
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.