Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Rebuke to Idol Worship

⁹ Now,^[a] all the forming of^[b] images means nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their own witnesses cannot see, and they^[c] know nothing. So they will be put to shame.

¹⁰ Who would shape a god or cast an image that profits nothing? ¹¹ To be sure, all who associate with it will be put to shame; and as for the craftsmen, they are only human. Let them all gather together and^[d] take their stand. Then^[e] let them be terrified—they will be humiliated together.

¹² The blacksmith prepares a tool and works in the coals, then^[f] fashions an idol with hammers, working by the strength of his arm. He even becomes hungry and loses his strength; he drinks no water and grows faint.

¹³ The carpenter measures it^[g] with a line; he traces its shape with a stylus, then fashions it with planes and shapes it with a compass. He makes the idol like a human figure, with human beauty, to be at home^[h] in a shrine. ¹⁴ He cuts down cedars, or chooses a cypress tree or an oak, and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. Or he plants a cedar, and the rain makes it grow. ¹⁵ He divides it up^[i] for people to burn. Taking part of it, he warms himself, makes a fire, and bakes bread. Or perhaps^[j] he constructs a god and worships it. He makes it an idol and bows down to it. ¹⁶ Half the wood he burns in the fire, and^[k] over^[l] that half he places^[m] meat so he can eat. He sits by its coals, warms himself,^[n] and says, “Ah! I am warm in front of^[o] the fire.” ¹⁷ And the rest of it he makes into a god. To blocks^[p] of wood he bows down, worships, prays, and says, “Save me, since you are my god.”

God’s Promise is Reliable

¹³ For when God made his promise to Abraham, he swore an oath by himself, since he had no one greater to swear by. ¹⁴ He said, “I will certainly bless you and give you many descendants.”^{[a] 15} And so he obtained what he had been promised, because he patiently waited for it. ¹⁶ For people swear by someone greater than themselves, and an oath given as confirmation puts an end to all argument. ¹⁷ In the same way, when God wanted to make the unchangeable character of his purpose perfectly clear to the heirs of his promise, he guaranteed it with an oath, ¹⁸ so that by these two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to prove false, we who have taken refuge in him might be encouraged to seize the hope set before us. ¹⁹ That hope,^[b] firm and secure like an anchor for our souls, reaches behind the curtain ²⁰ where Jesus, our forerunner, has gone on our behalf, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.