Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A praise song of David.
141 Lord, I call to you for help.
Listen to me as I pray.
Please hurry and help me!
2 Accept my prayer like a gift of burning incense,
the words I lift up like an evening sacrifice.
3 Lord, help me control what I say.
Don’t let me say anything bad.
4 Take away any desire to do evil.
Keep me from joining the wicked in doing wrong.
Help me stay away from their feasts.
5 If good people correct me,
I will consider it a good thing.
If they criticize me,
I will accept it like a warm welcome.[a]
But my prayer will always be against the wicked and the evil they do.
6 Let their judges be put to death.[b]
Then everyone will know that I told the truth.
7 Like rocks in a field that a farmer has plowed,
so our bones will be scattered in the grave.
8 My Lord God, I look to you for help.
I look to you for protection; don’t let me die.
9 Those evil people are trying to trap me.
Don’t let me fall into their traps.
10 Let the wicked fall into their own traps,
while I walk away unharmed.
21 “I will let the other nations see what I have done, and they will begin to respect me! They will see my power that I used against the enemy. 22 Then from that day on, the family of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God. 23 And the nations will know why the family of Israel was carried away as prisoners to other countries. They will learn that my people turned against me, so I turned away from them. I let their enemies defeat them, so my people were killed in battle. 24 They sinned and made themselves filthy, so I punished them for the things they did. I turned away from them and refused to help them.”
25 So this is what the Lord God says: “Now I will bring the family of Jacob back from captivity. I will have mercy on the whole family of Israel. I will show my strong feelings for my holy name. 26 The people will forget their shame and all the times they turned against me. They will live in safety on their own land. No one will make them afraid. 27 I will bring my people back from other countries. I will gather them from the lands of their enemies. Then many nations will see how holy I am. 28 They will know that I am the Lord their God. That is because I made them leave their homes and go as prisoners to other countries. But then I gathered them together again and brought them back to their own land. 29 I will pour out my Spirit on the family of Israel, and I will never turn away from my people again.” This is what the Lord God said.
The New Temple
40 In the twenty-fifth year after we were taken away into captivity, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month,[a] the Lord’s power came on me. This was fourteen years after the Babylonians took Jerusalem. On that day the Lord took me there in a vision.
2 In a vision, God carried me to the land of Israel. He put me down near a very high mountain. On the mountain in front of me was a building that looked like a city.[b] 3 He took me to that place. There was a man there who looked like polished bronze. He had a cloth tape measure and a measuring rod in his hand. He was standing by the gate. 4 The man said to me, “Son of man,[c] use your eyes and ears. Look at these things and listen to me. Pay attention to everything that I show you, because you have been brought here so that I can show you these things. You must tell the family of Israel all that you see.”
Use Your Freedom for God’s Glory
23 “All things are allowed,” you say. But not all things are good. “All things are allowed.” But some things don’t help anyone. 24 Try to do what is good for others, not just what is good for yourselves.
25 Eat any meat that is sold in the meat market. Don’t ask questions about it to see if it is something you think is wrong to eat. 26 You can eat it, “because the earth and everything in it belong to the Lord.”[a]
27 Someone who is not a believer might invite you to eat with them. If you want to go, then eat anything that is put before you. Don’t ask questions to see if it is something you think is wrong to eat. 28 But if someone tells you, “That food was offered to idols,” then don’t eat it. That’s because some people think it is wrong, and it might cause a problem for the person who told you that. 29 I don’t mean that you think it is wrong. But the other person might think it is wrong. That’s the only reason not to eat it. My own freedom should not be judged by what another person thinks. 30 I eat the meal with thankfulness. So I don’t want to be criticized because of something I thank God for.
31 So if you eat, or if you drink, or if you do anything, do it for the glory of God. 32 Never do anything that might make other people do wrong—Jews, non-Jews, or anyone in God’s church. 33 I do the same thing. I try to please everyone in every way. I am not trying to do what is good for me. I am trying to do what is good for the most people so that they can be saved.
11 Follow my example, just as I follow the example of Christ.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International