Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

1 The burden which Habakkuk the Prophet saw:

² O LORD, how long shall I cry, and you will not hear, cry out to You for violence, and You will not help?

³ Why do You show me iniquity and cause me to behold sorrow? For plundering and violence are before me. And there are those who raise strife and contention.

⁴ Therefore, the Law is dissolved, and judgment never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous. Therefore, wrong judgment proceeds.

2 I will stand upon my watch and set myself upon the tower, and will look and see what He would say to me, and what I shall answer to Him Who rebukes me.

² And the LORD answered me, and said, “Write the vision, and make it plain upon tablets, so that he who reads it may run.

³ “For the vision is yet for an appointed time. But in the end, it shall speak and not lie. Though it tarries, wait. For it shall surely come and shall not delay.

⁴ “Behold, he who lifts himself up, his mind is not upright in him. But the just shall live by his faith.

37 Do not fret because of wicked men, nor be envious of evildoers.

² For they shall soon be cut down like grass and shall wither as the green herb.

³ Trust in the LORD and do good. Dwell in the land, and you shall assuredly be fed.

⁴ And delight yourself in the LORD; and He shall give you your heart’s desire.

⁵ Commit your way to the LORD, and trust in Him; and He shall make it so.

⁶ And He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judgment as the noon day.

⁷ Wait patiently upon the LORD, and hope in Him. Do not fret over him who prospers in his way, nor over the man who executes wicked schemes.

⁸ Cease from anger and abandon wrath. Do not fret. It leads only to evil.

⁹ For evildoers shall be cut off; and those who wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the land.

1 Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,

² To Timothy, my beloved son: Grace, mercy and peace, from God the Father, and from Jesus Christ our Lord.

³ I thank God, Whom I serve with pure conscience (as my forefathers did), remembering you in my prayers night and day, without ceasing;

⁴ desiring to see you, mindful of your tears, so that I may be filled with joy

⁵ when I call to remembrance the sincere faith that is in you (which dwelt first in your grandmother, Lois, and in your mother, Eunice, and assuredly dwells in you also).

⁶ Therefore, I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you by the laying on of my hands.

⁷ For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of self-control.

⁸ Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me (His prisoner). But share in the afflictions of the Gospel according to the power of God.

⁹ He has saved us and called us with a holy calling - not according to our works - but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us through Christ Jesus before the world was;

¹⁰ but is now revealed by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, Who has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel,

¹¹ for which I am appointed a preacher and Apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles.

¹² For this reason I also suffer these things. But I am not ashamed. For I know Whom I have believed. And I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him until that Day.

¹³ Keep the true pattern of the wholesome words which you have heard from me in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus.

¹⁴ Keep that worthy thing which was committed to you through the Holy Ghost, Who dwells in us.

⁵ And the Apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”

⁶ And the Lord said, “If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Pluck yourself up by the roots and plant yourself in the sea’, and it would obey you.

⁷ “Also, who of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, would say to him when he comes from the field, ‘Come at once, and sit down to eat?’

⁸ “Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare my supper and dress yourself. And serve me until I have eaten and drunk. And you eat and drink afterward?’

⁹ “Does he thank that servant because he did that which was commanded? I think not.

¹⁰ “So likewise you, when you have done all those things which are commanded of you, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done that which was our duty to do.’”