Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 123
A song for those journeying to worship.
1 I raise my eyes to fix my gaze on You,
for Your throne resides in the heavens.
2 Just as the eyes of servants
closely watch the hand of their masters,
Just as a maid carefully observes
the slightest gesture of her mistress,
In the same way we look to You, Eternal One,
waiting for our God to pour out His mercy upon us.
3 O Eternal One, show us Your mercy. We beg You.
We are not strangers to contempt and pain.
4 We have suffered more than our share
of ridicule and contempt from self-appointed critics who live easy lives
and pompously display their own importance.
(to Jeremiah) 27 This is how I want you to speak to the people—say it all, don’t hold anything back—but they won’t hear you. Your voice will call throughout the land, but no one will answer you. 28 And so you will say to them, “This is the nation that dared not obey the voice of the Eternal, their one True God. This is the people who would not be taught.” Truth has died and disappeared from their very lips.
29 Shave your head and throw your hair away, for it is time to mourn.
Climb the hills and grieve for the darkness has gone too far.
The Eternal has rejected His faithless people;
He has forsaken this generation that has stirred up His wrath.
30 For the people of Judah have done what is plainly evil right in front of Me. They have brought their revolting idols into My temple! They have desecrated this place that stands in honor of My name. 31 They have built shrines to other gods at Topheth, the garbage dump in the valley of Ben-hinnom, where they sacrifice their own sons and daughters and burn them in the fire to dark and pagan gods. I never taught them to do such unspeakable evil; it never even crossed My mind. 32 But I tell you this: the days are coming when that place will no longer be known as Topheth, or the garbage dump in the valley of Ben-hinnom. But it will be called the valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the bodies of those who sacrifice children there until there is no more room. 33 The remains of these wicked people will feed the vultures of the sky and wild animals of the earth because no one will be there to scare them away. 34 I will silence the sounds of laughter and joy from the villages of Judah to the streets of Jerusalem. Even the joy of a wedding will not be heard in this land of ruin.
18 Jesus saw that a crowd had gathered around Him, and He gave orders to go to the other side of the sea. 19 A scribe came up to Him.
Scribe: Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.
Jesus: 20 Foxes have dens in which to sleep, and the birds have nests. But the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.
Disciple: 21 Jesus, before I do the things You’ve asked me to do, I must first bury my father.
Jesus: 22 Follow Me! And let the dead bury their own dead.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.