Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

76 God’s reputation is very great in Judah and in Israel. ² His home is in Jerusalem. He lives upon Mount Zion. ³ There he breaks the weapons of our enemies.

⁴ The everlasting mountains cannot compare with you in glory! ⁵ The mightiest of our enemies are conquered. They lie before us in the sleep of death; not one can lift a hand against us. ⁶ When you rebuked them, God of Jacob, steeds and riders fell. ⁷ No wonder you are greatly feared! Who can stand before an angry God? ⁸ You pronounce sentence on them from heaven; the earth trembles and stands silently before you. ⁹ You stand up to punish the evildoers and to defend the meek of the earth. ¹⁰ Man’s futile wrath will bring you glory. You will use it as an ornament!

¹¹ Fulfill all your vows that you have made to Jehovah your God. Let everyone bring him presents. He should be reverenced and feared, ¹² for he cuts down princes and does awesome things to the kings of the earth.

²⁰ A year later,^[a] around the middle of March of the eleventh year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, this message came to me:

²¹ “Son of dust, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh,^[b] king of Egypt, and it has not been set nor put into a cast to make it strong enough to hold a sword again. ²² For the Lord God says, I am against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and I will break both his arms—the strong one and the one that was broken before, and I will make his sword clatter to the ground. ²³ And I will banish the Egyptians to many lands. ²⁴ And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and place my sword in his hand. But I will break the arms of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he shall groan before the king of Babylon as one who has been wounded unto death. ²⁵ I will strengthen the hands of the king of Babylon, while the arms of Pharaoh fall useless to his sides. Yes, when I place my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he swings it over the land of Egypt, Egypt shall know I am the Lord. ²⁶ I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations; then they shall know I am the Lord.”

²⁵ “I have spoken of these matters very guardedly, but the time will come when this will not be necessary and I will tell you plainly all about the Father. ²⁶ Then you will present your petitions over my signature!^[a] And I won’t need to ask the Father to grant you these requests, ²⁷ for the Father himself loves you dearly because you love me and believe that I came from the Father. ²⁸ Yes, I came from the Father into the world and will leave the world and return to the Father.”

²⁹ “At last you are speaking plainly,” his disciples said, “and not in riddles. ³⁰ Now we understand that you know everything and don’t need anyone to tell you anything.^[b] From this we believe that you came from God.”

³¹ “Do you finally believe this?” Jesus asked. ³² “But the time is coming—in fact, it is here—when you will be scattered, each one returning to his own home, leaving me alone. Yet I will not be alone, for the Father is with me. ³³ I have told you all this so that you will have peace of heart and mind. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows; but cheer up, for I have overcome the world.”