Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Taw

¹² When the Lord finishes doing what he planned to Jerusalem and Mount Zion, he will punish Assyria. The king of Assyria is very proud. His pride made him do many bad things, so God will punish him.

¹³ The king of Assyria said, “I am very wise. By my own wisdom and power I have done many great things. I have defeated many nations. I have taken their wealth and their people as slaves. I am a very powerful man. ¹⁴ With my own hands I have taken the riches of all these people—like someone taking eggs from a bird’s nest. A bird often leaves its nest and eggs, and there is nothing to protect the nest. There is no bird to chirp and fight with its wings and beak, so anyone can come take the eggs. And there is no one to stop me from taking all the people on earth.”

¹⁵ An ax is not better than the one who cuts with it. A saw is not better than the one who uses it. Is a stick stronger than the one who picks it up? It can’t do anything to the person who is using it to punish someone! ¹⁶ But Assyria doesn’t understand this. So the Lord God All-Powerful will send a terrible disease against him. He will lose his wealth and power like a sick man losing weight. Then Assyria’s glory will be destroyed. It will be like a fire burning until everything is gone. ¹⁷ The Light of Israel^[a] will be like a fire. The Holy One will be like a flame. He will be like a fire that first begins to burn the weeds and thorns ¹⁸ and then spreads to burn up the tall trees and vineyards. Finally, everything will be destroyed—even the people. Assyria will be like a rotting log. ¹⁹ There will be a few trees left standing in the forest—so few that even a child could count them.

²⁰ Then the people from Jacob’s family who are left living in Israel will stop depending on the one who beat them. They will learn to depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.

People Wonder if Jesus Is the Messiah

²⁵ Then some of the people who lived in Jerusalem said, “This is the man they are trying to kill. ²⁶ But he is teaching where everyone can see and hear him. And no one is trying to stop him from teaching. Maybe the leaders have decided that he really is the Messiah. ²⁷ But when the real Messiah comes, no one will know where he comes from. And we know where this man’s home is.”

²⁸ Jesus was still teaching in the Temple area when he said loudly, “Do you really know me and where I am from? I am here, but not by my own decision. I was sent by one who is very real. But you don’t know him. ²⁹ I know him because I am from him. He is the one who sent me.”

³⁰ When Jesus said this, the people tried to grab him. But no one was able even to touch him, because the right time for him had not yet come. ³¹ But many of the people believed in Jesus. They said, “We are waiting for the Messiah to come. When he comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this man has done?”

The Jewish Leaders Try to Arrest Jesus

³² The Pharisees heard what the people were saying about Jesus. So the leading priests and the Pharisees sent some Temple police to arrest him. ³³ Then Jesus said, “I will be with you a little while longer. Then I will go back to the one who sent me. ³⁴ You will look for me, but you will not find me. And you cannot come where I am.”

³⁵ These Jews said to each other, “Where will this man go that we cannot find him? Will he go to the Greek cities where our people live? Will he teach the Greek people there? ³⁶ He says, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me.’ He also says, ‘You cannot come where I am.’ What does this mean?”