Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
This is a song that David wrote.
I do what is right
26 Lord, I always try to do what is right.
I continue to trust you all the time.
So please show that I am not guilty of wrong things.
2 Test me, Lord, and see how I have lived.
Look into my mind and see my thoughts.
3 I always know that I can trust you,
because of your faithful love.
So I live to please you.
4 I do not become a friend of people who tell lies.
I do not join together with hypocrites.
5 I keep away from any crowd of evil people.
I do not become a friend of wicked people.
6 I wash my hands as a sign
that I live in a pure way.[a]
I will worship you at your altar, Lord.
7 I will sing aloud to thank you.
I will tell people about all the great things that you have done.
8 Lord, I love the temple that is your house.
It is the place where we clearly see your glory.
Trouble will come to the people of Judah
15 The Lord said to me, ‘Even if Moses and Samuel asked me not to punish these people, I would not agree. I still would not help them. Send them away! I do not want to see them again! 2 They may ask you, “Where should we go?” Then tell them, “This is what the Lord says:
Those who should become ill and die will die.
Those who should die in war will die in war.
Those who should die from famine will die from famine.
Those who should go away as prisoners will go away as prisoners.”
3 I will send four kinds of punishments to hurt them. Soldiers will kill them in war. Dogs will carry away their dead bodies. Birds and wild animals will eat them and destroy them. 4 I will cause the people of all nations to think that the people of Judah are disgusting. That will be because of the evil things that the king of Judah, Hezekiah's son, Manasseh, did in Jerusalem.’
5 The Lord said,
‘People of Jerusalem, nobody will feel sorry for you.
Nobody will weep for you.
Nobody will stop to ask how you are.
6 I tell you this:
You have turned away from me.
You continue to go further away from me.
So I will prepare to use my power to destroy you.
I can no longer be kind to you.
7 I will punish the people of every town in the land.
I will blow them away,
like wind blows away straw.
My people have refused to change the way that they live.
So I will destroy them and their children too.
8 There will be more widows in Judah,
than there is sand on the shore of the sea.
At midday I will send an enemy to destroy the young men.
Their mothers will weep for them.
It will happen very suddenly.
Fear and terror will come!
9 A mother will feel very weak,
because all her seven children have died.
It is difficult for her even to breathe.
She has lost the children that made her happy,
while they were still young.
She will be ashamed and without honour.
I will send your enemies to kill
any of your people who are still alive.’
That is what the Lord says.
7 His power is already working secretly to turn people against God. But there is someone who makes it impossible for him to work freely. That person will continue to make it impossible, until God takes that person away. 8 Then the man who is against God will appear. But the Lord Jesus will come, and he will kill that man. Jesus will blow him away with breath from his mouth. When Jesus appears with great power, that enemy of God will be there no longer![a]
9 When the enemy of God appears, he will be doing Satan's work. Satan will give him the power to do great things and miracles that are false. 10 He will do all kinds of bad things that deceive people. The people that he deceives are people that God will destroy. Those people believe false things because they have refused to accept God's true message. If they had loved that true message, God would have saved them. 11 For this reason, God causes their minds to accept something that is wrong. They believe a false message. 12 As a result, God will punish all of them. They have refused to believe what is true. Instead, they have enjoyed doing very bad things.
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