Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
5 This is my message for the false prophets
who have led my people so far from the truth,
Who preach peace when someone pays them with food
and declare war against those who don’t:
6 “It will be a dark night, too dark for you who lack vision,
and it will be darkness for you who cannot divine.”
The sun will go down on these so-called prophets,
and the day will be black all around them.
7 The seers will be in disgrace,
and those who predict the future ashamed.
They will keep their mouths shut
because there will be no word from God.
8 But that is not the case with me—I am filled with power,
with the Spirit of the Eternal One, with God’s justice and might,
To accuse Jacob of his crimes
and the daughter of Israel of her wrongdoing.
9 Now listen closely you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel
who hate what is right and just and make the straight path into a crooked road,
10 Who build Zion with innocent blood
and Jerusalem with wrongdoing.
11 Her leaders exchange justice for a bribe; her priests teach, but for a price;
her prophets divine for money,
Yet they have the gall to say as they lean on the Eternal,
“He is on our side! Nothing bad will happen to us!”
12 All of this is why Zion will be plowed flat as a field,
Jerusalem will become a tumble of rubble,
And the temple mountain will become an ordinary high place in the forest.
Psalm 43[a]
1 Plead for me; clear my name, O God. Prove me innocent
before immoral people;
Save me from their lies,
their unjust thoughts and deeds.
2 You are the True God—my shelter, my protector, the one whom I lean on.
Why have You turned away from me? Rejected me?
Why must I go around, overwrought, mourning,
suffering under the weight of my enemies?
3 O my God, shine Your light and truth
to help me see clearly,
To lead me to Your holy mountain,
to Your home.
4 Then I will go to God’s altar with nothing to hide.
I will go to God, my rapture;
I will sing praises to You and play my strings,
unloading my cares, unleashing my joys, to You, God, my God.
5 O my soul, why are you so overwrought?
Why are you so disturbed?
Why can’t I just hope in God? Despite all my emotions, I will hope in God again.
I will believe and praise the One
who saves me and is my life,
My Savior and my God.
9 Don’t you remember, my brothers and sisters, how hard we worked and struggled? We worked day and night so that we wouldn’t be a burden to any of you and so that we could continue to proclaim to you the good news of God. 10 Both you and God can confirm how well we treated the believers: we were always holy, just, and blameless. 11-12 As you know, we comforted and consoled each of you as a father soothes his own children, encouraging you to live lives worthy of God—of the One calling you into His own kingdom and into His glory.
Unlike the Corinthians who struggled to break their old religious and cultural ties when they came to faith, the Thessalonians followed Jesus wholeheartedly and thus faced persecution for their devotion.
13 So we have good reason to give thanks to God without pausing. For you have taken into yourselves the word of God we brought to you and received it as a message from God—not just something whipped up by someone like you or us—and that word is at work in you who believe.
23 Jesus spoke to His disciples and to the crowds that had gathered around.
Jesus with the Pharisees listening uses them as an example of the pious but truly unrighteous. He calls the people to mind the Pharisees’ words, not their examples, because they talk about righteousness and faithfulness, but they are a faithless and unrighteous crew.
Jesus: 2 The Pharisees and the scribes occupy the seat of Moses. 3 So you should do the things they tell you to do—but don’t do the things they do. 4 They heap heavy burdens upon their neighbors’ backs, and they prove unwilling to do anything to help shoulder the load. 5 They are interested, above all, in presentation: they wrap their heads and arms in the accoutrements of prayer, they cloak themselves with flowing tasseled prayer garments, 6 they covet the seats of honor at fine banquets and in the synagogue, 7 and they love it when people recognize them in the marketplace, call them “Teacher,” and beam at them.
8 But you: do not let anyone call you “Rabbi,” that is, “Teacher.” For you are all brothers, and you have only one teacher, the Anointed One. 9 Indeed, do not call anyone on earth “Father,” for you have only one father, and He is in heaven. 10 Neither let anyone call you “leader,” for you have one leader—the Anointed One. 11 If you are recognized at all, let it be for your service. Delight in the one who calls you servant. 12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.