Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A song of David.

¹⁹ The commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah this is what the great king, the king of Assyria says:

‘What are you trusting in to help you? ²⁰ If you say, “I trust in power and great battle plans,” then that is useless. Now I ask you, who do you trust so much that you are willing to rebel against me? ²¹ Are you depending on Egypt to help you? Egypt is like a broken walking stick. If you lean on it for support, it will only hurt you and make a hole in your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, cannot be trusted by anyone who depends on him for help. ²² Maybe you will say, “We trust the Lord our God to help us.” But I know that Hezekiah destroyed the altars and high places where people worshiped the Lord. Hezekiah told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship only at this one altar here in Jerusalem.”

²³ ‘If you still want to fight my master, the king of Assyria, I will make this agreement with you. I promise that I will give you 2000 horses if you can find enough men to ride them into battle. ²⁴ But even then you couldn’t beat one of my master’s lowest ranking officers. So why do you still depend on Egypt’s chariots and horse soldiers?

²⁵ ‘Now, do you think I came to this country to destroy it without the Lord’s help? No, the Lord said to me, “Go up against this country and destroy it!”’”

Hezekiah Talks With Isaiah the Prophet

19 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes to show he was upset. Then he put on sackcloth and went to the Lord’s Temple.

² Hezekiah sent Eliakim the palace manager, Shebna the royal secretary, and the elders of the priests to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. They wore the special clothes that showed they were sad and upset. ³ They said to Isaiah, “King Hezekiah has commanded that today will be a special day for sorrow and sadness. It will be a very sad day, like the time a child should be born, but is not strong enough to come from its mother’s womb. ⁴ The commander’s master, the king of Assyria, has sent him to say bad things about the living God. Maybe the Lord your God will hear all those things and answer them. Maybe the Lord your God will show how wrong the enemy is! So pray for the people who are still left alive.”

⁵ King Hezekiah’s officers went to Isaiah. ⁶ Isaiah said to them, “Give this message to your master, Hezekiah: The Lord says, ‘Don’t be afraid of what you heard from the commanders. Don’t believe what those “boys” from the king of Assyria said to make fun of me. ⁷ Look, I will send a spirit against the king of Assyria. He will get a report warning him about a danger, so he will return to his own country. And I will cut him down with a sword in his own country.’”

A Rich Man Refuses to Follow Jesus^(A)

¹⁸ A religious leader asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?”

¹⁹ Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? Only God is good. ²⁰ And you know his commands: ‘You must not commit adultery, you must not murder anyone, you must not steal, you must not tell lies about others, you must respect your father and mother ….’^[a]”

²¹ But the leader said, “I have obeyed all these commands since I was a boy.”

²² When Jesus heard this, he said to the leader, “But there is still one thing you need to do. Sell everything you have and give the money to those who are poor. You will have riches in heaven. Then come and follow me.” ²³ But when the man heard Jesus tell him to give away his money, he was sad. He didn’t want to do this, because he was very rich.

²⁴ When Jesus saw that the man was sad, he said, “It will be very hard for rich people to enter God’s kingdom. ²⁵ It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter God’s kingdom.”

Who Can Be Saved?

²⁶ When the people heard this, they said, “Then who can be saved?”

²⁷ Jesus answered, “God can do things that are not possible for people to do.”

²⁸ Peter said, “Look, we left everything we had and followed you.”

²⁹ Jesus said, “I can promise that everyone who has left their home, wife, brothers, parents, or children for God’s kingdom ³⁰ will get much more than they left. They will get many times more in this life. And in the world that is coming they will get the reward of eternal life.”