Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
81 My soul fainteth for Thy salvation, but I hope in Thy word.
82 Mine eyes fail from seeking Thy word, saying, “When wilt Thou comfort me?”
83 For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, yet do I not forget Thy statutes.
84 How many are the days of Thy servant? When wilt Thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?
85 The proud have dug pits for me, which is not according to Thy law.
86 All Thy commandments are faithful; they persecute me wrongfully; help Thou me!
87 They had almost consumed me from the earth, but I forsook not Thy precepts.
88 Quicken me according to Thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of Thy mouth.
8 But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee. Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house. Open thy mouth, and eat what I give thee.”
9 And when I looked, behold, a hand was sent unto me; and lo, a scroll of a book was therein.
10 And He spread it before me; and it was written within and without, and there were written therein lamentations and mourning and woe.
3 Moreover He said unto me, “Son of man, eat what thou findest: eat this scroll, and go, speak unto the house of Israel.”
2 So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that scroll.
3 And He said unto me, “Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this scroll that I give thee.” Then did I eat it, and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.
4 And He said unto me, “Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with My words unto them.
5 For thou art not sent to a people of strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel,
6 not to many people of strange speech and of a hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee.
7 But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee, for they will not hearken unto Me; for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.
8 Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads.
9 As an adamant, harder than flint, have I made thy forehead. Fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.”
10 Moreover He said unto me, “Son of man, all My words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears.
11 And go, get thee to those of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them and tell them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God,’ whether they will hear or whether they will forbear.”
16 I say again, let no man think me a fool. But if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast of myself a little.
17 (That which I now speak, I speak it not from the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence as boasting.
18 Since many glory in the flesh, I will glory also.)
19 For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise!
20 For ye suffer if a man bring you into bondage, or if a man devour you, if a man take from you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.
21 I speak as reproached, as though we had been weak. However it be, whereinsoever anyone is bold (I speak foolishly), I am bold also.
22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I.
23 Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more — in labors more abundant, in stripes beyond measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths often.
24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes less one.
25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned; thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day adrift in the deep;
26 in journeyings often, in perils from waters, in perils from robbers, in perils from mine own countrymen, in perils from the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
27 in weariness and painfulness, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
28 Besides those things which are external, there is that which cometh upon me daily: the care for all the churches!
29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not?
30 If I must glory, I will glory in the things which concern mine infirmities.
31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.
32 In Damascus, the governor under Aretas the king guarded the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me;
33 but I was let down by the wall in a basket through a window, and escaped his hands.
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