Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
97 How I love your ·teachings [instructions; laws]!
I ·think about [ponder; meditate on] them all day long.
98 Your commands make me wiser than my enemies,
because they are mine forever.
99 I am ·wiser [more insightful] than all my teachers,
because I ·think about [ponder; meditate on] your ·rules [decrees; testimonies].
100 I have more understanding than the elders,
because I ·follow [protect] your ·orders [precepts].
101 I have ·avoided [L kept my feet from] every evil way
so I could ·obey [keep; guard] your word.
102 I haven’t ·walked [turned] away from your ·laws [judgments],
because you yourself are my teacher.
103 ·Your promises are sweet to me [L How sweet your words slip/slide down my palate],
sweeter than honey in my mouth!
104 Your ·orders [precepts] give me understanding,
so I hate lying ways.
10 The Lord says, “Now, I will ·stand [rise] up
and ·show my greatness [L be exalted].
Now, I will ·become important to the people [L be lifted up].
11 You people ·do useless things [produce nothing; L conceive chaff/straw]
·that are like hay and straw [L you give birth to straw/stubble].
·A destructive wind [or Your breath] will ·burn [consume; devour] you like fire.
12 ·People [or The nations] will be burned ·until their bones become like lime [to ashes/lime];
they will burn quickly like ·dry [cut] thornbushes.”
13 You people in faraway lands, hear what I have done.
You people who are near me, ·learn about [or acknowledge] my ·power [might].
14 The sinners in ·Jerusalem [L Zion; 1:27] are afraid;
those who are ·separated from God [godless] shake with fear.
They say, “·Can any of us [L Who can] live through this fire that ·destroys [consumes; devours]?
Who can live near this ·fire that burns on and on [unquenchable/everlasting burning]?”
15 A person who ·does what is right [walks righteously; Ps. 15]
and speaks ·what is right [truthfully; uprightly],
who ·refuses to take [rejects; despises] ·money unfairly [profit from oppression/extortion],
who ·refuses to take money to hurt others [L shakes off his hands from grabbing a bribe],
who ·does not listen [closes his ears] to plans of murder,
who ·refuses to think about [closes his eyes to looking on] evil—
16 this is the kind of person who will ·be safe [L dwell on high/the heights].
He will ·be protected as he would be [find refuge] in a ·high, walled city [rock stronghold/fortress].
He will always have ·bread [food],
and he will not run out of water.
16 You did not choose me; I chose you. And I ·gave you this work: [appointed you] to go and produce fruit, fruit that will ·last [remain; abide]. Then the Father will give you anything you ask for in my name [see 14:13]. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
Jesus Warns His Followers
18 “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me ·first [before you]. 19 If you ·belonged to [L were of] the world, it would love you as it loves its own. But I have chosen you out of the world, ·so [because] you don’t belong to it. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember ·what [the word] I told you: A ·servant [slave; bond-servant] is not greater than his ·master [lord; see 13:16]. If people ·did wrong to [persecuted] me, they will ·do wrong to [persecute] you, too. And if they ·obeyed my teaching [L kept my word], they will ·obey [keep] yours, too. 21 [L But] They will do all this to you on account of ·me [L my name; 14:13], because they do not know the One who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me also hates my Father. 24 I did works among them that no one else has ever done. If I had not done these works, they would not be guilty of sin. [C Jesus’ words and actions resulted in their guilt because they rejected him despite the evidence (the “signs”) that God was working through him; see Matt. 11:20–24; Luke 11:31–32.] But now they have seen what I have done, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this happened so that what is written in their law ·would be true [L might be fulfilled]: ‘They hated me for no reason [C the quote could be from Ps. 35:19 or Ps. 69:4].’
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