Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁶⁵ You have dealt well with Your servant, O Lord, according to Your promise.

⁶⁶ Teach me good judgment, wise and right discernment, and knowledge, for I have believed (trusted, relied on, and clung to) Your commandments.

⁶⁷ Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now Your word do I keep [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying it].

⁶⁸ You are good and kind and do good; teach me Your statutes.

⁶⁹ The arrogant and godless have put together a lie against me, but I will keep Your precepts with my whole heart.

⁷⁰ Their hearts are as fat as grease [their minds are dull and brutal], but I delight in Your law.

⁷¹ It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes.

⁷² The law from Your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

12 When Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him.

² And in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, because they had transgressed and been unfaithful to the Lord, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem

³ With 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen, and the people were without number who came with him from Egypt—the Libyans, Sukkiim, and Ethiopians.

⁴ And he took the fortified cities of Judah and came on to Jerusalem.

⁵ Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, Thus says the Lord: You have forsaken Me, so I have abandoned you into the hands of Shishak.

⁶ Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, The Lord is righteous.

⁷ And when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance; and My wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.

⁸ Nevertheless, they shall be his servants, that they may know [the difference between] My service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.

⁹ So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem; he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house. He took everything. He took away also the shields of gold Solomon had made.

¹⁰ Instead of them King Rehoboam made shields of bronze and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard who kept the door of the king’s house.

¹¹ And whenever the king entered the Lord’s house, the guards came and got the shields of bronze and brought them again into the guard chamber.

¹² When Rehoboam humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him, so as not to destroy him entirely; also in Judah conditions were good.

⁷ Remember your leaders and superiors in authority [for it was they] who brought to you the Word of God. Observe attentively and consider their manner of living (the outcome of their well-spent lives) and imitate their faith (^[a]their conviction that God exists and is the Creator and Ruler of all things, the Provider and Bestower of eternal salvation through Christ, and their ^[b]leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness).

⁸ Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is [always] the same, yesterday, today, [yes] and forever (to the ages).

⁹ Do not be carried about by different and varied and alien teachings; for it is good for the heart to be established and ennobled and strengthened by means of grace (God’s favor and spiritual blessing) and not [to be devoted to] foods [rules of diet and ritualistic meals], which bring no [spiritual] benefit or profit to those who observe them.

¹⁰ We have an altar from which those who serve and ^[c]worship in the tabernacle have no right to eat.

¹¹ For when the blood of animals is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin, the victims’ bodies are burned outside the limits of the camp.^(A)

¹² Therefore Jesus also suffered and died outside the [city’s] gate in order that He might purify and consecrate the people through [the shedding of] His own blood and set them apart as holy [for God].

¹³ Let us then go forth [from all that would prevent us] to Him outside the camp [at Calvary], bearing the contempt and abuse and shame with Him.^(B)

¹⁴ For here we have no permanent city, but we are looking for the one which is to come.

¹⁵ Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name.^(C)

¹⁶ Do not forget or neglect to do kindness and good, to be generous and distribute and contribute to the needy [of the church ^[d]as embodiment and proof of fellowship], for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

¹⁷ Obey your spiritual leaders and submit to them [continually recognizing their authority over you], for they are constantly keeping watch over your souls and guarding your spiritual welfare, as men who will have to render an account [of their trust]. [Do your part to] let them do this with gladness and not with sighing and groaning, for that would not be profitable to you [either].

¹⁸ Keep praying for us, for we are convinced that we have a good (clear) conscience, that we want to walk uprightly and live a noble life, acting honorably and in complete honesty in all things.

¹⁹ And I beg of you [to pray for us] the more earnestly, in order that I may be restored to you the sooner.

²⁰ Now may the God of peace [Who is the Author and the Giver of peace], Who brought again from among the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood [that sealed, ratified] the everlasting agreement (covenant, testament),^(D)

²¹ Strengthen (complete, perfect) and make you what you ought to be and equip you with everything good that you may carry out His will; [while He Himself] works in you and accomplishes that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ (the Messiah); to Whom be the glory forever and ever (to the ages of the ages). Amen (so be it).