Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

103 I bless the holy name of God with all my heart. ² Yes, I will bless the Lord and not forget the glorious things he does for me.

³ He forgives all my sins. He heals me. ⁴ He ransoms me from hell. He surrounds me with loving-kindness and tender mercies. ⁵ He fills my life with good things! My youth is renewed like the eagle’s! ⁶ He gives justice to all who are treated unfairly. ⁷ He revealed his will and nature to Moses and the people of Israel.

⁸ He is merciful and tender toward those who don’t deserve it; he is slow to get angry and full of kindness and love. ⁹ He never bears a grudge, nor remains angry forever. ¹⁰ He has not punished us as we deserve for all our sins, ¹¹ for his mercy toward those who fear and honor him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. ¹² He has removed our sins as far away from us as the east is from the west. ¹³ He is like a father to us, tender and sympathetic to those who reverence him.

²² Let everything everywhere bless the Lord. And how I bless him too!

16 Then again a message came to me from the Lord.

² “Son of dust,” he said, “speak to Jerusalem about her loathsome sins. ³ Tell her, ‘The Lord God says: You are no better than the people of Canaan—your father must have been an Amorite and your mother a Hittite!^{[a] 4} When you were born, no one cared for you. When I first saw you, your umbilical cord was uncut, and you had been neither washed nor rubbed with salt nor clothed. ⁵ No one had the slightest interest in you; no one pitied you or cared for you. On that day when you were born, you were dumped out into a field and left to die, unwanted.

^6-7 “‘But I came by and saw you there, covered with your own blood, and I said, “Live! Thrive like a plant in the field!” And you did! You grew up and became tall, slender and supple, a jewel among jewels. And when you reached the age of maidenhood, your breasts were full-formed and your pubic hair had grown; yet you were naked.

⁸ “‘Later, when I passed by and saw you again, you were old enough for marriage; and I wrapped my cloak around you to legally declare my marriage vow. I signed a covenant with you, and you became mine. ^9-10 Then, when the marriage had taken place, I gave you beautiful clothes of linens and silk, embroidered, and sandals made of dolphin hide. ¹¹ I gave you lovely ornaments, bracelets, and beautiful necklaces, ¹² a ring for your nose and two more for your ears, and a lovely tiara for your head. ¹³ And so you were made beautiful with gold and silver, and your clothes were silk and linen and beautifully embroidered. You ate the finest foods and became more beautiful than ever. You looked like a queen, and so you were! ¹⁴ Your reputation was great among the nations for your beauty; it was perfect because of all the gifts I gave you,’” says the Lord God.

3 Then what’s the use of being a Jew? Are there any special benefits for them from God? Is there any value in the Jewish circumcision ceremony? ² Yes, being a Jew has many advantages.

First of all, God trusted them with his laws so that they could know and do his will.^{[a] 3} True, some of them were unfaithful, but just because they broke their promises to God, does that mean God will break his promises? ⁴ Of course not! Though everyone else in the world is a liar, God is not. Do you remember what the book of Psalms says about this?^[b] That God’s words will always prove true and right, no matter who questions them.

⁵ “But,” some say, “our breaking faith with God is good, our sins serve a good purpose, for people will notice how good God is when they see how bad we are. Is it fair, then, for him to punish us when our sins are helping him?” (That is the way some people talk.) ⁶ God forbid! Then what kind of God would he be, to overlook sin? How could he ever condemn anyone? ⁷ For he could not judge and condemn me as a sinner if my dishonesty brought him glory by pointing up his honesty in contrast to my lies. ⁸ If you follow through with that idea you come to this: the worse we are, the better God likes it! But the damnation of those who say such things is just. Yet some claim that this is what I preach!