Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
101 I will sing about your loving-kindness and your justice, Lord. I will sing your praises!
2 I will try to walk a blameless path, but how I need your help, especially in my own home, where I long to act as I should.
3 Help me to refuse the low and vulgar things; help me to abhor all crooked deals of every kind, to have no part in them. 4 I will reject all selfishness and stay away from every evil. 5 I will not tolerate anyone who secretly slanders his neighbors; I will not permit conceit and pride. 6 I will make the godly of the land my heroes and invite them to my home. Only those who are truly good shall be my servants. 7 But I will not allow those who deceive and lie to stay in my house. 8 My daily task will be to ferret out criminals and free the city of God from their grip.
19 Then the Assyrian general sent this message to King Hezekiah: “The great king of Assyria says, ‘No one can save you from my power! 20-21 You need more than mere promises of help before rebelling against me. But which of your allies will give you more than words? Egypt? If you lean on Egypt, you will find her to be a stick that breaks beneath your weight and pierces your hand. The Egyptian Pharaoh is totally unreliable! 22 And if you say, “We’re trusting the Lord to rescue us”—just remember that he is the very one whose hilltop altars you’ve destroyed. For you require everyone to worship at the altar in Jerusalem!’ 23 I’ll tell you what: Make a bet with my master, the king of Assyria! If you have two thousand men left who can ride horses, we’ll furnish the horses! 24 And with an army as small as yours,[a] you are no threat to even the least lieutenant in charge of the smallest contingent in my master’s army. Even if Egypt supplies you with horses and chariots, it will do no good. 25 And do you think we have come here on our own? No! The Lord sent us and told us, ‘Go and destroy this nation!’”
19 When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the Temple to pray. 2 Then he told Eliakim, Shebnah, and some of the older priests to clothe themselves in sackcloth and to go to Isaiah (son of Amoz), the prophet, with this message:
3 “King Hezekiah says, ‘This is a day of trouble, insult, and dishonor. It is as when a child is ready to be born, but the mother has no strength to deliver it. 4 Yet perhaps the Lord your God has heard the Assyrian general defying the living God and will rebuke him. Oh, pray for the few of us who are left.’”
5-6 Isaiah replied, “The Lord says, ‘Tell your master not to be troubled by the sneers these Assyrians have made against me.’ 7 For the king of Assyria will receive bad news from home and will decide to return; and the Lord will see to it that he is killed when he arrives there.”
18 Once a Jewish religious leader asked him this question: “Good sir, what shall I do to get to heaven?”
19 “Do you realize what you are saying when you call me ‘good’?” Jesus asked him. “Only God is truly good, and no one else.
20 “But as to your question, you know what the Ten Commandments say—don’t commit adultery, don’t murder, don’t steal, don’t lie, honor your parents, and so on.” 21 The man replied, “I’ve obeyed every one of these laws since I was a small child.”
22 “There is still one thing you lack,” Jesus said. “Sell all you have and give the money to the poor—it will become treasure for you in heaven—and come, follow me.”
23 But when the man heard this he went sadly away, for he was very rich.
24 Jesus watched him go and then said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.”
26 Those who heard him say this exclaimed, “If it is that hard, how can anyone be saved?”
27 He replied, “God can do what men can’t!”
28 And Peter said, “We have left our homes and followed you.”
29 “Yes,” Jesus replied, “and everyone who has done as you have, leaving home, wife, brothers, parents, or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God, 30 will be repaid many times over now, as well as receiving eternal life in the world to come.”
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.