Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
To the director: A song of David.
40 I called[a] to the Lord, and he heard me.
He heard my cries.
2 He lifted me out of the grave.[b]
He lifted me from that muddy place.[c]
He picked me up, put me on solid ground,
and kept my feet from slipping.
3 He put a new song[d] in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see what he did and worship him.
They will put their trust in the Lord.
4 Great blessings belong to those who trust in the Lord,
for those who do not turn to demons and false gods[e] for help.
5 Lord my God, you have done many amazing things!
You have made great plans for us—too many to list.
I could talk on and on about them,
because there are too many to count.
6 Lord, you made me understand this:[f]
You don’t really want sacrifices and grain offerings.
You don’t want burnt offerings and sin offerings.
7 So I said, “Here I am,
ready to do what was written about me in the book.
8 My God, I am happy to do whatever you want.
I never stop thinking about your teachings.”
9 I told the good news of victory[g] to the people in the great assembly.
And, Lord, you know that I will never stop telling that good news.
10 I told about the good things you did.
I did not hide these things in my heart.
I spoke of how you can be trusted to save us.
I did not hide your love and loyalty from those in the great assembly.
11 Lord, do not hide your mercy from me.
Let your love and loyalty always protect me.
God’s Message to Shebna
15 The Lord God All-Powerful told me to go to Shebna, the palace manager, 16 and say this: “What are you doing here? None of your relatives are buried here, are they? Then what right do you have to prepare a tomb for yourself in this high place? Why are you cutting a tomb out of this rock?
17-18 “What a big man you are! But the Lord will crush you. He will roll you into a small ball and throw you far away into the open arms of another country, and there you will die.
“You are very proud of your chariots. But in that faraway land, your new ruler will have better chariots. And your chariots will not look important in his palace. 19 I will force you out of your position here. Your new leader will take you away from your important job. 20 At that time I will call for my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah. 21 I will take your robe and put it on him. I will give him your scepter. I will give him the important job you have, and he will be like a father to the people of Jerusalem and Judah’s family.[a]
22 “I will put the key to David’s house around his neck. If he opens a door, no one will be able to close it. If he closes a door, no one will be able to open it. 23 He will be like a favorite chair in his father’s house. I will make him like a strong peg in a solid board. 24 All the honored and important things of his father’s house will hang on him. All the adults and little children will depend on him. They will be like little dishes and big water bottles hanging on him.”
25 The Lord All-Powerful said, “At that time the peg that is now in the solid board will get weak and break. It will fall to the ground, and everything hanging on it will be destroyed. Then everything I said in this message will happen. It will happen because the Lord said it would.”
There Is Only One Good News Message
6 A short time ago God chose you to follow him. He chose you through his grace that came through Christ. But now I am amazed that you are already turning away and believing something different from the Good News we told you. 7 There is no other message that is the Good News, but some people are confusing you. They want to change the Good News about Christ. 8 We told you the true Good News message. So anyone who tells you a different message should be condemned—even if it’s one of us or even an angel from heaven! 9 I said this before. Now I say it again: You have already accepted the Good News. Anyone who tells you another way to be saved should be condemned!
10 Now do you think I am trying to make people accept me? No, God is the one I am trying to please. Am I trying to please people? If I wanted to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Paul’s Authority Is From God
11 Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that the Good News message I told you was not made up by anyone. 12 I did not get my message from any other human. The Good News is not something I learned from other people. Jesus Christ himself gave it to me. He showed me the Good News that I should tell people.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International