Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁷³ You made my body, Lord; now give me sense to heed your laws. ⁷⁴ All those who fear and trust in you will welcome me because I too am trusting in your Word.

^75-77 I know, O Lord, that your decisions are right and that your punishment was right and did me good. Now let your loving-kindness comfort me, just as you promised. Surround me with your tender mercies that I may live. For your law is my delight.

⁷⁸ Let the proud be disgraced, for they have cut me down with all their lies. But I will concentrate my thoughts upon your laws.

⁷⁹ Let all others join me who trust and fear you, and we will discuss your laws. ⁸⁰ Help me to love your every wish; then I will never have to be ashamed of myself.

¹⁰ But who will listen when I warn them? Their ears are closed, and they refuse to hear. The word of God has angered them; they don’t want it at all.

¹¹ For all this I am full of the wrath of God against them. I am weary of holding it in. I will pour it out over Jerusalem, even upon the children playing in the streets, upon the gatherings of young men, and on husbands and wives and grandparents. ¹² Their enemies shall live in their homes and take their fields and wives. For I will punish the people of this land, the Lord has said. ¹³ They are swindlers and liars, from the least of them right to the top! Yes, even my prophets and priests! ¹⁴ You can’t heal a wound by saying it’s not there! Yet the priests and prophets give assurances of peace when all is war. ¹⁵ Were my people ashamed when they worshiped idols? No, not at all—they didn’t even blush. Therefore they shall lie among the slain. They shall die beneath my anger.

¹⁶ Yet the Lord pleads with you still: Ask where the good road is, the godly paths you used to walk in, in the days of long ago. Travel there, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, “No, that is not the road we want!” ¹⁷ I set watchmen over you who warned you: “Listen for the sound of the trumpet! It will let you know when trouble comes.” But you said, “No! We won’t pay any attention!”

^18-19 This, then, is my decree against my people: (Listen to it, distant lands; listen to it, O my people in Jerusalem; listen to it, all the earth!) I will bring evil upon this people; it will be the fruit of their own sin because they will not listen to me. They reject my law.

²¹ Afterwards Paul felt impelled by the Holy Spirit^[a] to go across to Greece before returning to Jerusalem. “And after that,” he said, “I must go on to Rome!” ²² He sent his two assistants, Timothy and Erastus, on ahead to Greece while he stayed awhile longer in Asia Minor.

²³ But about that time, a big blowup developed in Ephesus concerning the Christians. ²⁴ It began with Demetrius, a silversmith who employed many craftsmen to manufacture silver shrines of the Greek goddess Diana. ²⁵ He called a meeting of his men, together with others employed in related trades, and addressed them as follows:

“Gentlemen, this business is our income. ²⁶ As you know so well from what you’ve seen and heard, this man Paul has persuaded many, many people that handmade gods aren’t gods at all. As a result, our sales volume is going down! And this trend is evident not only here in Ephesus, but throughout the entire province! ²⁷ Of course, I am not only talking about the business aspects of this situation and our loss of income, but also of the possibility that the temple of the great goddess Diana will lose its influence, and that Diana—this magnificent goddess worshiped not only throughout this part of Turkey but all around the world—will be forgotten!”