Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Promise to Act with Integrity

Of David. A psalm.^[a]

Assyrians Advise against Trust in Yahweh

¹⁹ Then the chief advisor said to them, “Please say to Hezekiah: ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: “What is this confidence that you trust? ²⁰ You think only a word of lips, ‘I have advice and power for the war.’ Now, on whom do you trust that you have rebelled against me? ²¹ Now, look! You rely^[a] on the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, which when a man leans on it, it goes into his hand and pierces it! So is Pharaoh the king of Egypt for all who are trusting on him! ²² But if you say to me, ‘On Yahweh our God we trust,’ is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, and he had said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘In the presence of this altar you shall bow down only in Jerusalem?’ ²³ So then, please make a wager with my lord, with the king of Assyria, and I will give to you a thousand horses if you are able on your part to put riders on them.^{[b] 24} How can you repulse a single captain among the least of the servants of my master^[c]? Yet you rely for yourself on Egypt for chariots and horsemen! ²⁵ Have I now come up against this place without Yahweh to destroy it? Yahweh has said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it!’”’”

Isaiah Sends Encouragement to Hezekiah

19 It happened that when King Hezekiah heard, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went to the temple of Yahweh. ² He sent Eliakim who was over the palace, Shebna the secretary, the elders, and the priests, all clothed in sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. ³ They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘A day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace is this day, for the children are about to be born,^[a] but there is no strength to bear them. ⁴ Perhaps Yahweh your God will hear all of the words of the chief commander whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to insult the living God, and he will rebuke the words which Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remainder who are left.’” ⁵ So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, ⁶ and Isaiah said to them, “Thus you must say to your master, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “You must not be afraid because the face of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. ⁷ Look, I am putting in him a spirit. He will hear a rumor and return to his land. Then I will cause him to fall by the sword in his land.”’”

A Rich Young Man

¹⁸ And a certain ruler asked him, saying, “Good Teacher, by^[a] doing what will I inherit eternal life?” ¹⁹ And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. ²⁰ You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’”^{[b] 21} And he said, “All these I have observed from my^[c] youth.” ²² And when he^[d] heard this,^[e] Jesus said to him, “You still lack one thing:^[f] Sell all that you have, and distribute the proceeds^[g] to the poor—and you will have treasure in heaven—and come, follow me.” ²³ But when he^[h] heard these things he became very sad, because he was extremely wealthy.

²⁴ And Jesus took notice of him^[i] and^[j] said, “How difficult it is for^[k] those who possess wealth to enter into the kingdom of God! ²⁵ For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter into the kingdom of God. ²⁶ So those who heard this^[l] said, “And who can be saved?” ²⁷ But he said, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”

²⁸ And Peter said, “Behold, we have left all that is ours^[m] and^[n] followed you.” ²⁹ And he said to them, “Truly I say to you that there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children on account of the kingdom of God, ³⁰ who will not receive many times more in this time and in the age to come, eternal life.”