Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
21 You, Almighty Lord, must help me!
Show that your name is great.
Rescue me,
because your faithful love is good.
22 I am weak and helpless.
My heart beats fast inside me.
23 I will soon be gone,
like a shadow that disappears in the evening.
I am like an insect
that the wind blows away.
24 I am so hungry that my knees shake.
I am so thin that my bones show.
25 My enemies laugh at me!
When they see me,
they shake their heads at me.
26 Lord my God, please help me!
Please rescue me,
because of your faithful love.
27 Lord, cause my enemies to know
that you are the one who has rescued me.
28 They may curse me,
but you will bless me.
When they attack me,
they will become ashamed.
But I will be very happy,
as your servant.
29 Shame will come on my enemies.
It will cover them like a coat.
30 I will thank the Lord with a loud voice!
I will praise him,
in front of a big crowd of people.
31 He stands beside poor people,
and he is ready to help them.
When cruel people accuse a weak person,
the Lord saves that person's life.
So I will praise the Lord.
20 On the tenth day of the fifth month some of Israel's leaders came to me.[a] That was in the seventh year that we had been prisoners in Babylon. The leaders sat in front of me. They wanted me to ask for a message from the Lord.
2 Then the Lord gave this message to me: 3 ‘Son of man, speak to the leaders of Israel. Tell them, “This is what the Almighty Lord says: You say that you want a message from me. I promise you this, as surely as I live: I will not allow you to come to me like that.”
4 Son of man, you must warn them. Are you ready to do that? Make them remember all the disgusting things that their ancestors did.
5 Say to them, “This is what the Almighty Lord says: On the day that I chose Israel's people to belong to me, I made a promise to all Jacob's descendants.[b] In the land of Egypt, I showed them who I am. I promised them, ‘I am the Lord your God.’ 6 On that day, I promised them that I would bring them out of Egypt. I promised to take them to a land that I had chosen for them. That land would give them plenty of good food and drink, enough for everyone. It was more beautiful than any other land. 7 I said to them, ‘You must each destroy the disgusting idols that you worship. Those are the idols of Egypt and they cause you to be unclean. Remember that I am the Lord your God.’
8 But your ancestors did not obey me. They refused to listen to me. None of them destroyed their disgusting idols. They continued to worship the idols of Egypt. So I decided to show them that I was very angry. I said that I would punish them there in Egypt. 9 But I did not want the people of other nations to insult my name. I had promised Israel's people that I would bring them out of Egypt. The nations near where the Israelites were living knew this. 10 So I brought my people out of Egypt. I led them into the wilderness. 11 I gave them my laws and my commands. Anyone who obeyed them would enjoy a good life.[c] 12 I also gave them Sabbath days when they would rest. It would help them to remember that they belong to me. They would know that I, the Lord, have made them my holy people.
13 But when Israel's people were in the wilderness, they turned against me. They did not obey my laws or my commands. (But anyone who did obey them would enjoy a good life.) They did not obey my rules for Sabbath days. So I was very angry with them. I decided to destroy them there in the wilderness. 14 But I did not want the people of other nations to insult my name. They had seen me bring Israel's people out of Egypt. 15 So I made a strong promise to my people in the wilderness. I said that I would not take them to the land that I had chosen for them. It was a very beautiful land with plenty of food and drink for everyone. 16 I refused to take them there because they had not obeyed my laws and my commands. They did not obey my rules for Sabbath says. Instead, they liked to worship their idols. 17 But I chose to be kind to them. I did not completely destroy them in the wilderness.
A place where God's people can rest
7 God's Holy Spirit says this:
‘You must listen when you hear God speak today.
8 Do not refuse to obey him.
Do not be like God's people many years ago.
When they travelled in the wilderness, they turned against me.
They wanted to see if I would punish them.
9 For 40 years your ancestors saw the great things that I did.
But still they did not obey me.
10 That is why I became angry with them.
I said, “They always want to do what is wrong.
They refuse to understand my message.”
11 Because of that, I promised to punish them.
Because I was angry with them, I said,
“They will never arrive in my special place of rest.” ’[a]
12 So be careful, my Christian friends. Do not refuse to trust God. That would be a very bad thing to do. Do not turn away from the God who lives for ever. 13 Instead, help each other to be strong every day. Today, you can still hear God's message. While that is still true, do not refuse to obey God. Do not think that sin will not hurt you. That is a lie. 14 We must continue to trust Christ very well, as we did when we first believed in him. We must continue to trust him until the end of our lives. Then we will share in everything that is his. 15 We have seen what the Bible says:
‘You must listen when you hear God speak today.
Do not refuse to obey him.
Do not be like God's people many years ago,
when they turned against God.’
16 Who were those people who heard God speak? All of them were the people that Moses led away from Egypt. They heard God's message, but they refused to obey him. 17 Who was God angry with for 40 years? He was angry with those same people. They did what was wrong. So they died and their bodies remained in the wilderness. 18 God promised to punish them, because they refused to obey him. He said, ‘They will never arrive in my special place of rest.’
19 So we must be careful ourselves! Those people did not trust God. As a result, they never arrived in God's special place.
God's special place of rest
4 God promised his people that they could go to his special place of rest. That promise is still true for us today. So we must be very careful. Do not fail to arrive in that place. We certainly do not want that to happen. 2 We have heard God's good news, just like God's people in the wilderness heard his message. But that message did not help them, because they did not believe it. They did not trust God, like those who obeyed him. 3 But those of us who trust God do enjoy his special place of rest. This is what God said:
‘Because I was very angry with them, I promised this:
“They will never arrive in my special place of rest.” ’[b]
God said that, even though he had finished his work when he made the world. 4 In the Bible God has spoken about the seventh day like this:
‘God rested from all his work on the seventh day.’[c]
5 As we have already seen, God said something later about his rest:
‘They will never arrive in my special place of rest.’
6 So we see that there is still a chance for people to go to God's place of rest. But those people who first heard God's message in the wilderness refused to obey him. As a result, they did not arrive in his special place of rest. 7 So God chose another time for people to go to his place of rest. He called it ‘Today’. A long time after Moses, David spoke God's message. As we have already seen, he said:
‘You must listen when you hear God speak today.
Do not refuse to obey him.’
8 This shows that Joshua did not bring God's people to the place where they could rest. Later, God had to speak again about another day of rest. 9 So we see this: God still has a place ready for his people, where they can rest. They will rest as God rested on the seventh day. 10 When God made the world and everything, he rested after he had finished his work. It is the same for everyone who goes to God's place of rest. They too will rest. They will no longer need to work.[d]
11 So we must do everything possible to arrive in God's special place of rest. God's people in the wilderness did not obey him. We must not be like them. If we do not obey God, we also will fail to arrive in that place.
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