Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
III
21 But you, Lord, are my Lord,
deal kindly with me for your name’s sake;
in your great mercy rescue me.
22 For I am poor and needy;
my heart is pierced within me.
23 Like a lengthening shadow I am gone,
I am shaken off like the locust.
24 My knees totter from fasting;(A)
my flesh has wasted away.
25 I have become a mockery to them;
when they see me, they shake their heads.
26 Help me, Lord, my God;
save me in your mercy.
27 Make them know this is your hand,
that you, Lord, have done this.
28 Though they curse, may you bless;
arise, shame them, that your servant may rejoice.
29 Clothe my accusers with disgrace;
make them wear their shame like a mantle.
30 I will give fervent thanks to the Lord;
before a crowd I will praise him.(B)
31 For he stands at the right hand of the poor
to save him from those who pass judgment on him.
Chapter 20
Israel’s History of Infidelity. 1 In the seventh year, on the tenth day of the fifth month,[a] some of the elders of Israel came to consult the Lord and sat down before me.(A) 2 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 3 Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Have you come to consult me? As I live, I will not allow myself to be consulted by you!—oracle of the Lord God.
4 Will you judge them? Will you judge, son of man? Tell them about the abominations of their ancestors,(B) 5 and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: The day I chose Israel, I swore to the descendants of the house of Jacob; I revealed myself to them in the land of Egypt and swore to them, saying: I am the Lord, your God. 6 That day I swore to bring them out of the land of Egypt to the land I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, a jewel among all lands.(C) 7 Then I said to them: Throw away, each of you, the detestable things[b] that held your eyes; do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the Lord, your God.(D)
8 But they rebelled and refused to listen to me; none of them threw away the detestable things that held their eyes, nor did they abandon the idols of Egypt. Then I considered pouring out my fury and spending my anger against them there in the land of Egypt.(E) 9 I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be desecrated in the eyes of the nations among whom they were: in the eyes of the nations I had made myself known to them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt.(F) 10 Therefore I led them out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. 11 (G)Then I gave them my statutes and made known to them my ordinances, so that everyone who keeps them has life through them. 12 (H)I also gave them my sabbaths to be a sign between me and them, to show that it is I, the Lord, who makes them holy.
13 But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They did not observe my statutes, and they rejected my ordinances that bring life to those who keep them. My sabbaths, too, they desecrated grievously. Then I considered pouring out my fury on them in the wilderness to put an end to them,(I) 14 but I acted for the sake of my name, so it would not be desecrated in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.(J) 15 Nevertheless in the wilderness I swore to them that I would not bring them into the land I had given them—a land flowing with milk and honey, a jewel among all the lands. 16 Their hearts followed after their idols so closely that they did not live by my statutes, but rejected my ordinances and desecrated my sabbaths. 17 But I looked on them with pity, not wanting to destroy them, so I did not put an end to them in the wilderness.
Israel’s Infidelity a Warning. 7 [a]Therefore, as the holy Spirit says:
“Oh, that today you would hear his voice,(A)
8 ‘Harden not your hearts as at the rebellion
in the day of testing in the desert,
9 where your ancestors tested and tried me
and saw my works(B) 10 for forty years.
Because of this I was provoked with that generation
and I said, “They have always been of erring heart,
and they do not know my ways.”
11 As I swore in my wrath,
“They shall not enter into my rest.”’”
12 Take care, brothers, that none of you may have an evil and unfaithful heart, so as to forsake the living God. 13 Encourage yourselves daily while it is still “today,” so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin. 14 We have become partners of Christ if only we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end,(C) 15 for it is said:
“Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
‘Harden not your hearts as at the rebellion.’”(D)
16 (E)Who were those who rebelled when they heard? Was it not all those who came out of Egypt under Moses? 17 With whom was he “provoked for forty years”? Was it not those who had sinned, whose corpses fell in the desert?(F) 18 And to whom did he “swear that they should not enter into his rest,” if not to those who were disobedient?(G) 19 And we see that they could not enter for lack of faith.
Chapter 4
The Sabbath Rest. 1 Therefore, let us be on our guard while the promise of entering into his rest remains, that none of you seem to have failed. 2 For in fact we have received the good news just as they did. But the word that they heard did not profit them, for they were not united in faith with those who listened. 3 For we who believed enter into [that] rest, just as he has said:(H)
“As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter into my rest,’”
and yet his works were accomplished at the foundation of the world. 4 For he has spoken somewhere about the seventh day in this manner, “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works”;(I) 5 and again, in the previously mentioned place, “They shall not enter into my rest.”(J) 6 Therefore, since it remains that some will enter into it, and those who formerly received the good news did not enter because of disobedience, 7 he once more set a day, “today,” when long afterwards he spoke through David, as already quoted:(K)
“Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
‘Harden not your hearts.’”
8 Now if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken afterwards of another day.(L) 9 Therefore, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God. 10 And whoever enters into God’s rest, rests from his own works as God did from his. 11 Therefore, let us strive to enter into that rest, so that no one may fall after the same example of disobedience.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.