Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁸¹ My soul becomes weak with desire for Your saving power, but I have put my hope in Your Word. ⁸² My eyes become weak with desire for Your Word. I say, “When will You comfort me?” ⁸³ I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, but I do not forget Your Law. ⁸⁴ How long must Your servant wait? When will You punish those who make it hard for me? ⁸⁵ The proud have dug deep holes for me. They do not obey Your Law. ⁸⁶ All of Your Word is faithful. Help me! For they have made it hard for me with a lie. ⁸⁷ They almost destroyed me on the earth, but I did not turn away from Your Law. ⁸⁸ Give me life again by Your loving-kindness, and I will keep the Word of Your mouth.

⁸ “As for you, son of man, listen to what I am telling you. Do not be sinful like these sinful people. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.” ⁹ Then I looked and saw that a hand was held out to me, and there was a book in it. ¹⁰ He held it out in front of me, and it had writing on the front and back. Words of trouble and sorrow were written on it.

3 Then He said to me, “Son of man, eat what is in front of you. Eat this book, then go and speak to the people of Israel.” ² So I opened my mouth, and He fed me this book. ³ And He said to me, “Son of man, eat this book that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.

⁴ Then He said to me, “Son of man, go to the people of Israel, and speak My words to them. ⁵ For you are not being sent to people of strange speech and a hard language, but to the people of Israel. ⁶ You are not being sent to many people of strange speech and a hard language whom you cannot understand. If I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you. ⁷ But the people of Israel will not listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to Me. All the people of Israel are strong-willed and show no respect. ⁸ See, I have made you as strong-willed and as hard as they are. ⁹ I have made your forehead harder than the hardest stone. Do not be afraid of them. Do not be afraid of how they look, even if they do not obey Me.” ¹⁰ He said to me, “Son of man, take all My words that I say to you into your heart, and hear with your ears. ¹¹ Then go to the Jews who have been taken away from their land. Go to the sons of your people. And if they listen or not, tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says.’”

What Paul Suffered as a Missionary

¹⁶ Let me say it again. Do not think of me as a fool. But if you do, then let this foolish man speak a little about himself. ¹⁷ The Lord has not told me to talk about myself. I am foolish when I do talk about myself like this. ¹⁸ Since the other men tell you all about themselves, I will talk about myself also. ¹⁹ You are so wise! You put up with fools! ²⁰ You listen to anyone who tells you what to do or makes money off of you or sets a trap for you. You will listen to anyone who makes himself bigger than you or hits you in the face. ²¹ I am ashamed to say that I am weak! But I do not do as they do. Whatever they say about themselves, I can say about myself also. (I know what I am saying sounds foolish.)

²² Are they Jews? So am I. Are they from the family of Israel? So am I. Are they from the family of Abraham? So am I. ²³ Do they work for Christ? I have worked for Him much more than they have. (I speak as if I am crazy.) I have done much more work. I have been in prison more times. I cannot remember how many times I have been whipped. Many times I have been in danger of death. ²⁴ Five different times the Jews whipped me across my back thirty-nine times. ²⁵ Three times they beat me with sticks. One time they threw stones at me. Three times I was on ships that were wrecked. I spent a day and a night in the water. ²⁶ I have made many hard trips. I have been in danger from high water on rivers. I have been in danger from robbers. I have been in danger from the Jews. I have been in danger from people who do not know God. I have been in danger in cities and in the desert. I have been in danger on the sea. I have been in danger among people who say they belong to Christ but do not. ²⁷ I have worked hard and have been tired and have had pain. I have gone many times without sleep. I have been hungry and thirsty. I have gone without food and clothes. I have been out in the cold. ²⁸ More than all these things that have happened to my body, the care of all the churches is heavy on me. ²⁹ When someone is weak, I feel weak also. When someone is led into sin, I have a strong desire to help him. ³⁰ If I must talk about myself, I will do it about the things that show how weak I am. ³¹ The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is to be honored and thanked forever. He knows I am telling the truth. ³² In the city of Damascus the leader of the people under King Aretas put soldiers at the gates to take me. ³³ But I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and I got away.