Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
All People Will Learn About God
65 The Lord says, “I made myself known to people who were not looking for me.
I was found by those who were not asking me for help.
I spoke to a nation that was not praying to me.
I said, ‘Here I am. Here I am.’
2 All day long I stood ready to accept
people who turned against me.
But the way they continue to live is not good.
They do anything they want to do.
3 Right in front of me they continue
to do things that make me angry.
They offer sacrifices to their false gods in their gardens.
They burn incense on altars of brick.
4 They sit among the graves.
They spend their nights waiting to get messages from the dead.
They eat the meat of pigs.
Their pots are full of soup made from meat that is wrong to eat.
5 But they tell others, ‘Stay away. Don’t come near me.
I am too holy for you.’
These people are like smoke in my nose.
Like a fire that burns all the time, they continue to make me angry.
6 “Look, it is written here before me.
I will not be quiet. Instead, I will repay you in full.
I will punish you for what you have done.
7 I will punish you for your sins and your ancestors’ sins,”
says the Lord.
“They burned incense to false gods on the mountains.
They shamed me on those hills.
So I will punish them as they should be punished
for what they did.”
8 This is what the Lord says:
“When there is juice left in the grapes,
people do not destroy them.
They know there is good left in them.
I will do the same thing to my servants.
I will not completely destroy them.
9 I will leave some of the children of Jacob.
Some of the people of Judah will receive my mountain.
I will choose the people who will live there.
My servants will live there.
19 But, Lord, don’t be far away.
You are my power. Hurry to help me.
20 Save me from the sword.
Save my life from the dogs.
21 Rescue me from the lion’s mouth.
Save me from the horns of the bulls.
22 Then I will tell my brothers and sisters about you.
I will praise you when your people meet to worship you.
23 Praise the Lord, all you who worship him.
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him.
Fear him, all you Israelites.
24 The Lord does not ignore
the one who is in trouble.
He doesn’t hide from him.
He listens when the one in trouble calls out to him.
25 Lord, I praise you in the great meeting of your people.
These worshipers will see me do what I promised.
26 Poor people will eat until they are full.
Those who look to the Lord will praise him.
May your hearts live forever!
27 People everywhere will remember
and will turn to the Lord.
All the families of the nations
will worship him.
28 This is because the Lord is King.
He rules the nations.
23 Before this faith came, we were all held prisoners by the law. We had no freedom until God showed us the way of faith that was coming. 24 So the law was our master until Christ came. After Christ came, we could be made right with God through faith. 25 Now the way of faith has come, and we no longer live under the law.
26-27 You were all baptized into Christ, and so you were all clothed with Christ. This shows that you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 28 Now, in Christ, there is no difference between Jew and Greek. There is no difference between slaves and free men. There is no difference between male and female. You are all the same in Christ Jesus. 29 You belong to Christ. So you are Abraham’s descendants. You get all of God’s blessings because of the promise that God made to Abraham.
A Man with Demons Inside Him
26 Jesus and his followers sailed across the lake from Galilee to the area where the Gerasene[a] people live. 27 When Jesus got out of the boat, a man from the town came to Jesus. This man had demons inside him. For a long time he had worn no clothes. He lived in the burial caves, not in a house. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him. The man said with a loud voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Please don’t punish me!” 29 He said this because Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of him. Many times it had taken hold of him. He had been kept under guard and chained hand and foot. But he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon out into the desert.
30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
The man answered, “Legion.”[b] (He said his name was “Legion” because many demons were in him.) 31 The demons begged Jesus not to send them into eternal darkness.[c] 32 On the hill there was a large herd of pigs eating. The demons begged Jesus to allow them to go into the pigs. So Jesus allowed them to do this. 33 Then the demons came out of the man and went into the pigs. The herd of pigs ran down the hill and into the lake. All the pigs drowned.
34 The men who took care of the pigs ran away. They told about this in the town and the countryside. 35 And people went to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man sitting there at Jesus’ feet. The man was clothed and in his right mind because the demons were gone. But the people were frightened. 36 The men who saw these things happen told the others all about how Jesus had made the man well. 37 All the people of the Gerasene country asked Jesus to go away. They were all very afraid. So Jesus got into the boat and went back across the lake.
38 The man that Jesus had healed begged to go with him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Go back home and tell people what God did for you.” So the man went all over town telling how much Jesus had done for him.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.