Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

13 And behold there came a man of God out of Juda, by the word of the Lord to Bethel, when Jeroboam was standing upon the altar, and burning incense.

² And he cried out against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said: O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord: Behold a child shall be born to the house of David, Josias by name, and he shall immolate upon thee the priests of the high places, who now burn incense upon thee, and he shall burn men's bones upon thee.

³ And he gave a sign the same day, saying: This shall be the sign, that the Lord hath spoken: Behold the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.

⁴ And when the king had heard the word of the man of God, which he had cried out against the altar in Bethel, he stretched forth his hand from the altar, saying: Lay hold on him. And his hand which he stretched forth against him withered: and he was not able to draw it back again to him.

⁵ The altar also was rent, and the ashes were poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given before in the word of the Lord.

⁶ And the king said to the man of God: Entreat the face of the Lord thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me. And the man of God besought the face of the Lord, and the king's hand was restored to him, and it became as it was before.

⁷ And the king said to the man of God: Come home with me to dine, and I will make thee presents.

⁸ And the man of God answered the king: If thou wouldst give me half thy house I will not go with thee, nor eat bread, nor drink water in this place:

⁹ For so it was enjoined me by the word of the Lord commanding me: Thou shalt not eat bread nor drink water, nor return by the same way that thou camest.

¹⁰ So he departed by another way, and returned not by the way that he came into Bethel.

⁹ What then? Do we excel them? No, not so. For we have charged both Jews, and Greeks, that they are all under sin.

¹⁰ As it is written: There is not any man just.

¹¹ There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

¹² All have turned out of the way; they are become unprofitable together: there is none that doth good, there is not so much as one.

¹³ Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have dealt deceitfully. The venom of asps is under their lips.

¹⁴ Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:

¹⁵ Their feet swift to shed blood:

¹⁶ Destruction and misery in their ways:

¹⁷ And the way of peace they have not known:

¹⁸ There is no fear of God before their eyes.

¹⁹ Now we know, that what things soever the law speaketh, it speaketh to them that are in the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be made subject to God.

²⁰ Because by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified before him. For by the law is the knowledge of sin.