Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Folly of Idolatry

⁹ Those who fashion ^[a]a graven image are all of them futile, and their precious things are of no profit; even their own witnesses fail to see or know, so that they will be ^(A)put to shame. ¹⁰ Who has fashioned a god or cast ^[b]an idol to ^(B)no profit? ¹¹ Behold, all his companions will be ^(C)put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are mere men. Let them all assemble themselves, let them stand up, let them tremble, let them together be put to shame.

¹² The ^(D)man shapes iron into a cutting tool and does his work over the coals, ^[c]fashioning it with hammers and working it with his strong arm. He also gets hungry and ^[d]his strength fails; he drinks no water and becomes weary. ^13 (E)Another shapes wood, he extends a measuring line; he outlines it with red chalk. He works it with planes and outlines it with a compass, and makes it like the form of a man, like the beauty of ^(F)man, so that it may sit in a ^(G)house. ¹⁴ Surely he cuts cedars for himself, and takes a ^[e]cypress or an oak and ^[f]raises it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir, and the rain makes it grow. ¹⁵ Then it becomes something for a man to burn, so he takes one of them and warms himself; he also makes a fire to bake bread. He also ^(H)makes a god and worships it; he makes it a graven image and ^(I)falls down before it. ¹⁶ Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he eats meat as he roasts a roast and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, “Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire.” ¹⁷ But the rest of it he ^(J)makes into a god, his graven image. He falls down before it and worships; he also ^(K)prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god.”

¹³ For ^(A)when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He ^(B)swore by Himself, ¹⁴ saying, “^(C)I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.” ¹⁵ And so, ^(D)having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. ^16 (E)For men swear by ^[a]one greater than themselves, and with them ^(F)an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. ^17 [b]In the same way God, desiring even more to show to ^(G)the heirs of the promise ^(H)the unchangeableness of His purpose, ^[c]interposed with an oath, ¹⁸ so that by two unchangeable things in which ^(I)it is impossible for God to lie, we who have ^[d]taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of ^(J)the hope set before us. ^19 [e]This ^(K)hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which ^(L)enters ^[f]within the veil, ^20 (M)where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a ^(N)high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.