Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Prayer of a Good Man

26 O Lord, stand by me for I have lived my life without blame. I have trusted in the Lord without changing. ² Test me and try me, O Lord. Test my mind and my heart. ³ For Your loving-kindness is always in front of my eyes. And I have walked in Your truth. ⁴ I do not sit with men who lie about the truth. I would not be seen with those who pretend to be someone they are not. ⁵ I hate the meeting of sinners, and will not sit with the sinful. ⁶ I will wash my hands of any guilt. And I will go around Your altar, O Lord. ⁷ I will speak with the voice of thanks, and tell of all Your great works.

⁸ O Lord, I love the house where You live, the place where Your shining-greatness lives. ⁹ Do not take my soul away with sinners, or my life with men who kill other people. ¹⁰ Sinful plans are in their hands. And their right hand is full of pay for hurting others. ¹¹ But as for me, I will live a life without blame. Make me free, and show me loving-kindness. ¹² My foot stands on a good place. I will give honor to the Lord, in the meeting of worship.

Israel Will Win

¹⁷ “But on Mount Zion there will be a way to be set free, and it will be holy. The people of Jacob will own what belongs to them. ¹⁸ The people of Jacob will be a fire. The people of Joseph will be burning. But the people of Esau will be like dry grass. They will set them on fire and destroy them. None of the people of Esau will be left alive,” for the Lord has spoken. ¹⁹ People of the Negev will live on Mount Esau. And those in the lower land will live in the land of the Philistines. They will live in the land of Ephraim and Samaria, and Benjamin will own Gilead. ²⁰ The people of Israel who are living among the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, and the people of Jerusalem who are in Sephared, will own the cities of the Negev. ²¹ The men of Jerusalem who fight and win the battle will go up Mount Zion to rule over Mount Esau. And the nation will belong to the Lord.

The Rich Man and the Man Who Begged for Food

¹⁹ “There was a rich man who dressed in purple linen clothes everyday. He lived like a king would live with the best of food. ²⁰ There was a poor man named Lazarus who had many bad sores. He was put by the door of the rich man. ²¹ He wanted the pieces of food that fell from the table of the rich man. Even dogs came and licked his sores.

²² “The poor man who asked for food died. He was taken by the angels into the arms of Abraham. The rich man died also and was buried. ²³ In hell the rich man was in much pain. He looked up and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus beside him. ²⁴ He cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, take pity on me. Send Lazarus. Let him put the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in much pain in this fire.’ ²⁵ Abraham said, ‘My son, do not forget that when you were living you had your good things. Lazarus had bad things. Now he is well cared for. You are in pain. ²⁶ And more than all this, there is a big deep place between us. No one from here can go there even if he wanted to go. No one can come from there.’

²⁷ “Then the rich man said, ‘Father, then I beg you to send Lazarus to my father’s house. ²⁸ I have five brothers. Let him tell them of these things, or they will come to this place of much pain also.’ ²⁹ Abraham said, ‘They have the Writings of Moses and of the early preachers. Let them hear what they say.’ ³⁰ But the rich man said, ‘No, Father Abraham. If someone goes to them from the dead, they will be sorry for their sins and turn from them.’ ³¹ Abraham said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and to the early preachers, they will not listen even if someone is raised from the dead.’”