Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 141
A psalm of David.
141 I cry out to you, Lord: Come to me—quickly!
Listen to my voice when I cry out to you!
2 Let my prayer stand before you like incense;
let my uplifted hands be like the evening offering.
3 Set a guard over my mouth, Lord;
keep close watch over the door that is my lips.
4 Don’t let my heart turn aside to evil things
so that I don’t do wicked things with evildoers,
so I don’t taste their delicacies.
5 Instead, let the righteous discipline me;
let the faithful correct me!
Let my head never reject that kind of fine oil,
because my prayers are always against the deeds of the wicked.[a]
6 Their leaders will fall from jagged cliffs,
but my words will be heard because they are pleasing.[b]
7 Our bones[c] have been scattered at the mouth of the grave,[d]
just like when the ground is broken up and plowed.[e]
8 But my eyes are on you, my Lord God.
I take refuge in you; don’t let me die!
9 Protect me from the trap they’ve set for me;
protect me from the snares of the evildoers.
10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets—all together!—
but let me make it through safely.
21 When I glorify myself among the nations, all the nations will understand the judgments that I executed and the power that I used among them. 22 And the house of Israel will know that I, the Lord, am their God, from that day on. 23 The nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile because of their guilt. Because they rebelled against me, I hid my face from them. When I handed them over to their enemies, all of them fell by the sword. 24 I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their transgressions and hid my face from them.
25 So the Lord God proclaims: Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob. I will have compassion on the whole house of Israel and defend my holy name. 26 They will forget their humiliation and all their rebellions against me when they live securely on their fertile land with no one to frighten them. 27 When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, I will be made holy through them in the sight of the many nations. 28 They will know that I am the Lord their God when, after I made them go into exile among the nations, I gathered them to their land. I won’t leave any of them behind. 29 When I pour my Spirit upon the house of Israel, I won’t hide my face from them again. This is what the Lord God says.
Vision of restoration
40 In the beginning of the twenty-fifth year of our exile, on the tenth day of the month, exactly fourteen years after the city was struck down, on that very day, the Lord’s power was on me, and he took me there. 2 In God’s visions, he brought me to the land of Israel and set me down on a very high mountain, where there was a city structure to the south. 3 When he brought me there, I saw a man standing in the gate. He appeared to be bronze, and he had a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand. 4 The man spoke to me, “Human one, look and listen well, and take seriously everything I show you, because you were brought here so that these things could be revealed to you. Describe everything you see to the house of Israel.”
23 Everything is permitted, but everything isn’t beneficial. Everything is permitted, but everything doesn’t build others up. 24 No one should look out for their own advantage, but they should look out for each other. 25 Eat everything that is sold in the marketplace, without asking questions about it because of your conscience. 26 The earth and all that is in it belong to the Lord.[a] 27 If an unbeliever invites you to eat with them and you want to go, eat whatever is served, without asking questions because of your conscience. 28 But if someone says to you, “This meat was sacrificed in a temple,” then don’t eat it for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience. 29 Now when I say “conscience” I don’t mean yours but the other person’s. Why should my freedom be judged by someone else’s conscience? 30 If I participate with gratitude, why should I be blamed for food I thank God for? 31 So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, you should do it all for God’s glory. 32 Don’t offend either Jews or Greeks, or God’s church. 33 This is the same thing that I do. I please everyone in everything I do. I don’t look out for my own advantage, but I look out for many people so that they can be saved. 11 1 Follow my example, just like I follow Christ’s.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible