Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
33-34 Just tell me what to do and I will do it, Lord. As long as I live I’ll wholeheartedly obey. 35 Make me walk along the right paths, for I know how delightful they really are.
36 Help me to prefer obedience to making money! 37 Turn me away from wanting any other plan than yours.[a] Revive my heart toward you. 38 Reassure me that your promises are for me, for I trust and revere you.
39 How I dread being mocked for obeying, for your laws are right and good. 40-42 I long to obey them! Therefore in fairness renew my life, for this was your promise—yes, Lord, to save me! Now spare me by your kindness and your love. Then I will have an answer for those who taunt me, for I trust your promises.
15 Again a message came to me from the Lord, saying:
16 “Son of dust, I am going to take away your lovely wife. Suddenly, she will die. Yet you must show no sorrow. Do not weep; let there be no tears. 17 You may sigh, but only quietly. Let there be no wailing at her grave; don’t bare your head nor feet, and don’t accept the food brought to you by consoling friends.”
18 I proclaimed this to the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died. The next morning I did all the Lord had told me to.
19 Then the people said: “What does all this mean? What are you trying to tell us?”
20-21 And I answered, “The Lord told me to say to the people of Israel: ‘I will destroy my lovely, beautiful Temple, the strength of your nation. And your sons and daughters in Judea will be slaughtered by the sword. 22 And you will do as I have done; you may not mourn in public or console yourself by eating the food brought to you by sympathetic friends. 23 Your head and feet shall not be bared; you shall not mourn or weep. But you will sorrow to one another for your sins and mourn privately for all the evil you have done. 24 Ezekiel is an example to you,’ the Lord God says. ‘You will do as he has done. And when that time comes, then you will know I am the Lord.’”
25 “Son of dust, on the day I finish taking from them in Jerusalem the joy of their hearts and their glory and joys—their wives and their sons and their daughters— 26 on that day a refugee from Jerusalem will start on a journey to come to you in Babylon to tell you what has happened. 27 And on the day of his arrival, your voice will suddenly return to you so that you can talk with him; and you will be a symbol for these people, and they shall know I am the Lord.”
15 And how will anyone go and tell them unless someone sends him? That is what the Scriptures are talking about when they say, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Gospel of peace with God and bring glad tidings of good things.”[a] In other words, how welcome are those who come preaching God’s Good News!
16 But not everyone who hears the Good News has welcomed it, for Isaiah the prophet said, “Lord, who has believed me when I told them?”[b] 17 Yet faith comes from listening to this Good News—the Good News about Christ.
18 But what about the Jews? Have they heard God’s Word? Yes, for it has gone wherever they are; the Good News has been told to the ends of the earth. 19 And did they understand that God would give his salvation to others if they refused to take it[c]? Yes, for even back in the time of Moses, God had said that he would make his people jealous and try to wake them up by giving his salvation to the foolish heathen nations. 20 And later on Isaiah said boldly that God would be found by people who weren’t even looking for him.[d] 21 In the meantime, he keeps on reaching out his hands to the Jews, but they keep arguing[e] and refusing to come.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.