Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
7 Turn us again to yourself, O God of Hosts. Look down on us in joy and love;[a] only then shall we be saved. 8 You brought us from Egypt as though we were a tender vine and drove away the heathen from your land and planted us. 9 You cleared the ground and tilled the soil, and we took root and filled the land. 10 The mountains were covered with our shadow; we were like the mighty cedar trees,[b] 11 covering the entire land from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River. 12 But now you have broken down our walls, leaving us without protection. 13 The boar from the forest roots around us, and the wild animals feed on us.
14 Come back, we beg of you, O God of the armies of heaven, and bless us. Look down from heaven and see our plight and care for this your vine! 15 Protect what you yourself have planted, this son you have raised for yourself.
23 You say it isn’t so, that you haven’t worshiped idols? How can you say a thing like that? Go and look in any valley in the land! Face the awful sins that you have done, O restless female camel, seeking for a male! 24 You are a wild donkey, sniffing the wind at mating time. (Who can restrain your lust?) Any jack wanting you need not search, for you come running to him! 25 Why don’t you turn from all this weary running after other gods? But you say, “Don’t waste your breath. I’ve fallen in love with these strangers and I can’t stop loving them now!”
26-27 Like a thief, the only shame that Israel knows is getting caught. Kings, princes, priests, and prophets—all are alike in this. They call a carved-up wooden post their father, and for their mother they have an idol chiseled out from stone. Yet in time of trouble they cry to me to save them! 28 Why don’t you call on these gods you have made? When danger comes, let them go out and save you if they can! For you have as many gods as there are cities in Judah. 29 Don’t come to me—you are all rebels, says the Lord. 30 I have punished your children, but it did them no good; they still will not obey. And you yourselves have killed my prophets as a lion kills its prey.
31 O my people, listen to the words of God: Have I been unjust to Israel? Have I been to them a land of darkness and of evil? Why then do my people say, “At last we are free from God; we won’t have anything to do with him again!” 32 How can you disown your God like that?[a] Can a girl forget her jewels? What bride will seek to hide her wedding dress? Yet for years on end my people have forgotten me—the most precious of their treasures.
33 How you plot and scheme to win your lovers. The most experienced harlot could learn a lot from you! 34 Your clothing is stained with the blood of the innocent and the poor. Brazenly you murder without a cause. 35 And yet you say, “I haven’t done a thing to anger God. I’m sure he isn’t angry!”[b] I will punish you severely because you say, “I haven’t sinned!”
36 First here, then there, you flit about, going from one ally to another for their help; but it’s all no good—your new friends in Egypt will forsake you as Assyria did before. 37 You will be left in despair and cover your face with your hands, for the Lord has rejected the ones that you trust. You will not succeed despite their aid.
14 In everything you do, stay away from complaining and arguing 15 so that no one can speak a word of blame against you. You are to live clean, innocent lives as children of God in a dark world full of people who are crooked and stubborn. Shine out among them like beacon lights, 16 holding out to them the Word of Life.
Then when Christ returns, how glad I will be that my work among you was so worthwhile. 17 And if my lifeblood is, so to speak, to be poured out over your faith, which I am offering up to God as a sacrifice—that is, if I am to die for you—even then I will be glad and will share my joy with each of you. 18 For you should be happy about this, too, and rejoice with me for having this privilege of dying for you.
3 Whatever happens, dear friends, be glad in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you this, and it is good for you to hear it again and again.
2 Watch out for those wicked men—dangerous dogs, I call them—who say you must be circumcised to be saved. 3 For it isn’t the cutting of our bodies that makes us children of God; it is worshiping him with our spirits. That is the only true “circumcision.” We Christians glory in what Christ Jesus has done for us and realize that we are helpless to save ourselves.
4 Yet if anyone ever had reason to hope that he could save himself, it would be I. If others could be saved by what they are, certainly I could!
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.