Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Adonai-Ro-eh
Psalm 23
1 A psalm of David.
Adonai is my shepherd, I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for His Name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for You are with me:
Your rod and Your staff comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You have anointed my head with oil, my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the House of Adonai forever.
Idols are Worthless Scarecrows
10 Hear the word that Adonai speaks to you, house of Israel, 2 Thus says Adonai:
“Do not learn the way of the nations
or be frightened by signs of the heavens—
though the nations are terrified by them.
3 The customs of the peoples are useless:
it is just a tree cut from the forest,
the work of the hands of a craftsman with a chisel.
4 They decorate it with silver and gold,
and fasten it with hammer and nails
so it won’t totter.
5 Like a scarecrow in a cucumber garden,
their idols cannot speak.
They must be carried
because they cannot walk![a]
Do not fear them
for they can do no harm
—nor do any good.”
6 There is none like You, Adonai!
You are great
and great is Your Name in power.
7 Who should not fear You,
Ruler of the nations?
For it is your due!
For among all the wise of the nations
and in all their kingdoms,
there is none like You.
8 They are totally stupid and foolish.
Discipline is useless—it’s wood!
9 Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish
and gold from Uphaz.
The work of the craftsman and of the goldsmith’s hands
is clothed in blue and purple—
all the work of skillful men.
10 But Adonai Elohim is truth.
He is the living God and eternal King.
At His wrath the earth quakes
and the nations cannot endure His indignation.
11 Thus you will say to them: “The gods—which did not make the heavens and the earth—will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”
12 He made the earth by His power,
established the world by His wisdom,
and stretched out heaven by His understanding.
13 When His voice thunders, waters in heaven roar.
He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain
and brings forth wind from His storehouses.
14 Everyone is stupid, ignorant.
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idol!
His molten image is a fraud.
There is no breath in them.
15 They are futile, a work of mockery.
In the time of their punishment they will perish.
16 Jacob’s portion is not like these.
For He is the Maker of all things
and Israel, the tribe of His inheritance
—Adonai-Tzva’ot is His Name.”
Ben-Elohim Is Supreme
15 He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation.
16 For by Him all things were created—
in heaven and on earth,
the seen and the unseen,
whether thrones or angelic powers
or rulers or authorities.
All was created through Him and for Him.
17 He exists before everything,
and in Him all holds together.
18 He is the head of the body, His community.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead—
so that He might come to have first place in all things.
19 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him[a]
20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself,
making peace through the blood of His cross—
whether things on earth or things in heaven!
21 Once you were alienated from God and hostile in your attitude by wicked deeds. 22 But now He has reconciled you in Messiah’s physical body through death, in order to present you holy, spotless and blameless in His eyes— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, established and firm, not budging from the hope of the Good News that you have heard. This Good News has been proclaimed throughout all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.