Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 7
A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjamite.
1 O Lord my God, in You I put my trust;
save me from all those who persecute me, and deliver me,
2 lest they tear my soul like a lion,
rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.
3 O Lord my God, if I have done this,
if there is iniquity in the palms of my hands,
4 if I have repaid evil to him who was at peace with me,
or have delivered my adversary without cause,
5 then may the enemy pursue my life and overtake me;
may my enemy trample my life to the ground,
and lay my honor in the dust. Selah
6 Arise, O Lord, in Your anger;
rise up because of the rage of my adversaries,
and awaken Yourself for me; You have commanded justice.
7 The congregation of the peoples surround You;
return above it to heaven’s heights.
8 The Lord will judge the peoples;
grant me justice, O Lord, according to my righteousness,
and according to my integrity within me.
9 May the evil of the wicked come to an end;
may You vindicate the righteous one;
You are a righteous God who examines the minds and hearts.
10 My defense depends on God,
who saves the upright in heart.
11 God is a righteous judge,
and God has indignation every day.
12 If one does not repent,
God will sharpen His sword;
He has bent His bow and made it ready.
13 He has prepared for Himself deadly weapons;
He makes His arrows flaming shafts.
14 The wicked man writhes in pain of iniquity;
he has conceived mischief and brought forth falsehood.
15 He who digs a hole and hollows it
will then fall into his own pit.
16 His mischief will return on his own head;
his violence will descend on the crown of his own head.
17 I will thank the Lord according to His righteousness,
and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.
7 Now as for you, son of man: I have set you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them from Me. 8 When I say to the wicked, “O wicked man, you shall surely die,” and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity. But his blood I will require from your hand. 9 Nevertheless, if you on your part warn the wicked to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity. But you have delivered your soul.
God’s Justice and Mercy
10 Therefore as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel: Thus you have spoken, saying, “Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we pine away in them. How should we then live?” 11 Say to them: As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why will you die, O house of Israel?
12 Therefore you, son of man, say to the sons of your people: The righteousness of a righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression. As for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it in the day that he turns from his wickedness. Nor shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sins. 13 When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live and he so trusts in his righteousness that he commits iniquity, all his righteousness shall not be remembered. But for that iniquity of his that he has committed, he shall die. 14 Again, when I say to the wicked, “You shall surely die,” and he turns from his sin and does that which is lawful and right, 15 if the wicked man restores a pledge, gives back what he had robbed, walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live. He shall not die. 16 None of his sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him. He has done what is lawful and right. He shall surely live.
17 Yet the sons of your people say, “The way of the Lord is not right,” when their way is not right. 18 When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die by it. 19 But if the wicked turns from his wickedness and does that which is lawful and right, he shall live by them. 20 Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not right.” O house of Israel, I will judge you, every one according to his ways.
The Authority of the Son
19 Then Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do. For whatever He does, likewise the Son does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself does. And He will show Him greater works than these so that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. 22 The Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, 23 that all men should honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
24 “Truly, truly I say to you, whoever hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has eternal life and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed from death into life. 25 Truly, truly I say to you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has given to the Son to have life in Himself, 27 and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.
28 “Do not marvel at this. For the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come out—those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. 30 I can do nothing of Myself. As I hear, I judge. My judgment is just, because I seek not My own will, but the will of the Father who sent Me.
Witnesses to Jesus
31 “If I bear witness of Myself, My testimony is not true. 32 There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the testimony which He bears of Me is true.
33 “You sent to John, and he bore witness of the truth. 34 I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. 35 He was a burning and a shining lamp, and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.
36 “I have greater testimony than that of John. The works which the Father has given Me to finish, the very works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. 37 The Father Himself, who has sent Me, has borne witness of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. 38 You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe the One He has sent. 39 You search the Scriptures, because you think in them you have eternal life. These are they who bear witness of Me. 40 Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.