Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
כ Kaf
81 I long for Your salvation;(A)
I put my hope in Your word.(B)
82 My eyes grow weary
looking for what You have promised;(C)
I ask, “When will You comfort me?”
83 Though I have become like a wineskin dried by smoke,
I do not forget Your statutes.
84 How many days must Your servant wait?
When will You execute judgment on my persecutors?(D)
85 The arrogant have dug pits for me;(E)
they violate Your instruction.
86 All Your commands are true;
people persecute me with lies—help me!(F)
87 They almost ended my life on earth,
but I did not abandon Your precepts.
88 Give me life in accordance with Your faithful love,
and I will obey the decree You have spoken.
8 “And you, son of man, listen to what I tell you: Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.”(A) 9 So I looked and saw a hand reaching out to me,(B) and there was a written scroll in it.(C) 10 When He unrolled it before me, it was written on the front and back; words of lamentation, mourning, and woe were written on it.
3 He said to me: “Son of man, eat what you find here. Eat this scroll,(D) then go and speak to the house of Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth, and He fed me the scroll. 3 “Son of man,” He said to me, “eat[a] and fill your stomach with this scroll I am giving you.” So I ate it,(E) and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.(F)
4 Then He said to me: “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak My words to them. 5 For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or difficult language but to the house of Israel. 6 You are not being sent to many peoples of unintelligible speech or difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. No doubt, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you.(G) 7 But the house of Israel will not want to listen to you because they do not want to listen to Me.(H) For the whole house of Israel is hardheaded and hardhearted. 8 Look, I have made your face as hard as their faces and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.(I) 9 I have made your forehead like a diamond, harder than flint. Don’t be afraid of them or discouraged by the look on their faces, even though they are a rebellious house.”
10 Next He said to me: “Son of man, listen carefully to all My words that I speak to you and take them to heart. 11 Go to your people, the exiles, and speak to them. Tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says,’ whether they listen or refuse to listen.”(J)
Paul’s Sufferings for Christ
16 I repeat: No one should consider me a fool. But if you do, at least accept me as a fool, so I too may boast a little. 17 What I say in this matter[a] of boasting, I don’t speak as the Lord would, but foolishly. 18 Since many boast in an unspiritual way,[b] I will also boast. 19 For you, being so wise, gladly put up with fools!(A) 20 In fact, you put up with it if someone enslaves you, if someone devours(B) you, if someone captures you, if someone dominates you, or if someone hits(C) you in the face. 21 I say this to our shame: We have been weak.
But in whatever anyone dares to boast—I am talking foolishly—I also dare:
22 Are they Hebrews?(D) So am I.
Are they Israelites? So am I.
Are they the seed of Abraham?(E) So am I.
23 Are they servants of Christ?
I’m talking like a madman—I’m a better one:
with far more labors,
many more imprisonments,
far worse beatings, near death[c] many times.
24 Five times I received 39 lashes from Jews.(F)
25 Three times I was beaten with rods by the Romans.(G)
Once I was stoned by my enemies.[d](H)
Three times I was shipwrecked.(I)
I have spent a night and a day
in the open sea.
26 On frequent journeys, I faced
dangers from rivers,
dangers from robbers,(J)
dangers from my own people,(K)
dangers from the Gentiles,
dangers in the city,
dangers in the open country,
dangers on the sea,
and dangers among false brothers;
27 labor and hardship,
many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst,
often without food, cold, and lacking clothing.(L)
28 Not to mention[e] other things, there is the daily pressure on me: my care for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble,(M) and I do not burn with indignation? 30 If boasting is necessary, I will boast about my weaknesses. 31 The God and Father(N) of the Lord Jesus, who is praised forever, knows I am not lying. 32 In Damascus,(O) the governor under King Aretas[f] guarded the city of the Damascenes in order to arrest me, 33 so I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.(P)
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