Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Tav
169 Let my cry come before You, O Eternal One.
Grant me understanding in keeping with Your word.
170 Let my plea come before You;
liberate me in keeping with Your word.
171 Praise will pour from my lips
because You help me learn what You require.
172 My tongue will sing of Your word
because every command of Yours is right.
173 Let Your hand be poised to help me
because I have chosen to live by Your precepts.
174 I long for Your salvation, O Eternal One.
Meanwhile, Your teaching brings me great joy.
175 Let my soul live on so that I may praise You,
and let Your precepts guide me.
176 I have wandered down the wrong path like a lost sheep; come find me, Your servant,
because I do not forget Your commands.
In his zeal to solidify the worship of the Lord in the Northern Kingdom, Jeroboam inadvertently dooms the Israelites’ relationship with God by making changes to God’s laws. Instead of worshiping no idols, the Northern Kingdom has two golden calves. Instead of worshiping at the temple in Jerusalem, the Israelites worship at various shrines like the one at Bethel. Instead of relying on the Levites, others can become priests and approach the altar. Finally, instead of following God’s calendar, Jeroboam brings with him the Egyptian calendar from his time in exile, thus altering the observance date of every sacred festival in the Northern Kingdom. The unwillingness to conform to God’s worship requirements will devolve into outright rebellion on the part of Israel.
13 A man of God from Judah arrived in Bethel because the Eternal One had told him to go there for a divine purpose. He arrived in the city while Jeroboam was burning incense at the altar. 2 The prophet proclaimed the message of the Eternal against the altar.
Man of God: Altar, altar, listen closely! This is the message of the Eternal: “A boy named Josiah will be born of David’s royal bloodline, and he will sacrifice the priests of the high places upon your back. O what irony: the bones of the priests will burn at the very spot where, just the day before, the priests burned incense.”
3 The prophet offered a sign that day.
Man of God: The Eternal One has revealed what the sign will be: “The altar will split in two, and the countless ashes of fat will fall out.”
4 The king heard the threatening message that the man of God boldly proclaimed against the altar in Bethel.
Jeroboam (raising his hand): Grab hold of him! He’s dangerous!
When Jeroboam raised his hand from the altar, it shriveled up instantaneously, and he could not bring it back to his body. 5 The altar broke apart, and the ashes of fat fell out of the altar. This sign occurred exactly as the man of God said it would in the message he gave from the Eternal One.
Jeroboam (to the man of God): 6 I beg you to intercede quickly with the Eternal, your True God, and ask Him to make my hand normal again.
So the man of God called upon the Eternal, and Jeroboam’s hand became normal again, as if it had never changed.
Jeroboam: 7 Now accompany me to my house for refreshment, and I will give you something in return for the good you have done me.
Man of God: 8 Even if you offered to give me half of your estate, I would not accompany you. I would not eat a crumb or drink water from your table. 9 The Eternal gave me clear instructions. He said, “While you are there, do not eat a crumb or drink water. Do not travel back the way you came.”
Certainly God’s requirements seem to be unreasonable. In fact, they are! Only by requiring something so arbitrary can God test the man’s dedication to Him.
10 So the man of God took a different path from the one he had originally traveled to Bethel.
9 So what then? Are we Jews better off? Not at all. We have made it clear that people everywhere, Jews and non-Jews, are living under the power of sin. 10 Here’s what Scripture says:
No one is righteous—not even one.
11 There is no one who understands the truth;
no one is seeking after the one True God.
12 All have turned away; together they’ve become worthless.
No one does good, not even one.[a]
13 What comes out of their mouths is as foul as a rotting corpse;
their words stink of flattery.[b]
Viper venom hides beneath their lips;[c]
14 their mouths are full of curses, lies, and oppression.[d]
15 Their feet race to violence and bloodshed;
16 destruction and trouble line the roads of their lives,
17 And they’ve never taken the road to peace.[e]
18 You will never see the fear of God in their eyes.[f]
Sin is more than just wrong choices, bad decisions, and willful acts of disobedience that violate God’s Word and are contrary to His will. It is that and much more. Paul knows sin is missing the mark or deliberately stepping over the line, but he also knows that sin is a power at work in him and every child of Adam. As strange as it may sound, sin seems to have a will of its own. Like an addiction, sin takes hold of us and causes us to act in ways we never wanted. For Paul the cross of Jesus deals finally and definitively with the dual reality of sin. Not only are we forgiven of our sins—our willful acts of disobedience—but we are also liberated from the power of sin.
19 We want to be clear that whatever the law says, it says to everyone who is under its authority. Its purpose is to muzzle every mouth, to silence idle talk, and to bring the whole world under the standard of God’s justice. 20 Therefore, doing what the law prescribes will not make anyone right in the eyes of God—that’s not its purpose—but the law is capable of exposing the true nature of sin.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.