Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Merchants Only Want to Make Money
4 Listen to me, you who trample on helpless people.
You are trying to destroy the poor of this country.
5 You merchants say,
“When will the New Moon be over so that we can sell grain?
When will the Sabbath be over
so that we can bring out more wheat to sell?
We can raise the price
and make the measure smaller.[a]
We can fix the scales
and cheat the people.[b]
6 The poor cannot pay their loans,
so we will buy them as slaves.
We will buy those helpless people
for the price of a pair of sandals.
Oh, and we can sell the wheat
that was spilled on the floor.”
7 The Lord made a promise. He used his name, “Pride of Jacob,” and made this promise:
“I will never forget what those people did.
113 Praise the Lord!
Servants of the Lord, praise him!
Praise the Lord’s name.
2 May the Lord’s name be praised
now and forever.
3 May the Lord’s name be praised
from where the sun rises to where it goes down.
4 The Lord is higher than all nations.
His glory rises to the skies.
5 There is no one like the Lord our God.
He sits on his throne high in heaven.
6 He is so high above us that he must look down
to see the sky and the earth.
7 He lifts the poor out of the dirt
and rescues beggars from the garbage dump.
8 He puts them in important positions,
giving them a place among the leaders of his people.
9 He gives children to the woman whose home is empty.
He makes her a happy mother.
Praise the Lord!
God Wants Us to Pray for Everyone
2 First of all, I ask that you pray for all people. Ask God to bless them and give them what they need. And give thanks. 2 You should pray for rulers and for all who have authority. Pray for these leaders so that we can live quiet and peaceful lives—lives full of devotion to God and respect for him. 3 This is good and pleases God our Savior.
4 God wants everyone to be saved and to fully understand the truth. 5 There is only one God, and there is only one way that people can reach God. That way is through Christ Jesus, who as a man 6 gave himself to pay for everyone to be free. This is the message that was given to us at just the right time. 7 And I was chosen as an apostle to tell people that message. (I am telling the truth. I am not lying.) I was chosen to teach those who are not Jews to believe and understand the truth.
True Wealth
16 Jesus said to his followers, “Once there was a rich man. He hired a manager to take care of his business. Later, he learned that his manager was cheating him. 2 So he called the manager in and said to him, ‘I have heard bad things about you. Give me a report of what you have done with my money. You can’t be my manager anymore.’
3 “So, the manager thought to himself, ‘What will I do? My master is taking my job away from me. I am not strong enough to dig ditches. I am too proud to beg. 4 I know what I will do! I will do something to make friends, so that when I lose my job, they will welcome me into their homes.’
5 “So the manager called in each person who owed the master some money. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He answered, ‘I owe him 100 jars[a] of olive oil.’ The manager said to him, ‘Here is your bill. Hurry! Sit down and make the bill less. Write 50 jars.’
7 “Then the manager asked another one, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He answered, ‘I owe him 100 measures[b] of wheat.’ Then the manager said to him, ‘Here is your bill; you can make it less. Write 80 measures.’
8 “Later, the master told the dishonest manager that he had done a smart thing. Yes, worldly people are smarter in their business with each other than spiritual people are.
9 “I tell you, use the worldly things you have now to make ‘friends’ for later. Then, when those things are gone, you will be welcomed into a home that lasts forever. 10 Whoever can be trusted with small things can also be trusted with big things. Whoever is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in big things too. 11 If you cannot be trusted with worldly riches, you will not be trusted with the true riches. 12 And if you cannot be trusted with the things that belong to someone else, you will not be given anything of your own.
13 “You cannot serve two masters at the same time. You will hate one master and love the other. Or you will be loyal to one and not care about the other. You cannot serve God and Money[c] at the same time.”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International