Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Davidic psalm,[a] which he sang to the Lord, because of the words of Cush the descendant of Benjamin.
A Prayer for Vindication
7 Lord, my God,
I seek refuge in you.
Deliver me from those who persecute me!
Rescue me!
2 Otherwise, they will rip me to shreds like a lion,
tearing me[b] apart with no one to rescue me.[c]
3 Lord, my God, if I have done this thing,
if there is injustice on my hands,
4 if I have rewarded those who did me good with evil,
if I have plundered my enemy without justification,
5 then, let my enemy pursue me,
let him overtake me,
and let him trample my life to the ground.
Let him put my honor into the dust.
6 Get up, Lord, in your anger!
Rise up, because of the fury of my enemies;
Arouse yourself for me;
you have ordained justice.
7 Let the assembly of the peoples gather around you,
and you will sit[d] high above them.
8 For the Lord will judge the peoples.
Judge me according to my righteousness, Lord,
and according to my integrity, Exalted One.
9 Let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
but establish the righteous.
For you are the righteous God
who discerns the inner thoughts.[e]
10 God is my shield,[f]
the one who delivers the upright in heart.
11 God is a righteous judge,
a God who is angry with sinners[g] every day.
12 If the ungodly one[h] doesn’t repent,
God will sharpen his sword;
he will string his bow and prepare it.
13 He prepares weapons of death for himself,
he makes his arrows into fiery shafts.
14 But the wicked one[i] travails with evil,
he conceives malice and gives birth to lies.
15 He digs a pit, even excavates it;
then he fell into the hole that he had made.
16 The trouble[j] he planned will return on his own head,
and his violence will descend on his skull.
17 But as for me,
I will praise the Lord for his righteousness,
and I will sing to the name of the Lord Most High.
Warning for Ezekiel
7 “Now as for you, Son of Man, I’ve established you as a sentinel for the house of Israel. So whenever you hear a message from me,[a] you are to warn the people[b] from me. 8 If I should say to a certain wicked person, ‘You wicked man, you’re certainly about to die,’ but you don’t warn him to turn from his wicked behavior,[c] he’ll die in his guilt, but I’ll seek retribution for his bloodshed from you.[d] 9 However, if you warn the wicked to turn from his behavior[e] and he does not do so, he will die in his guilt, and you will have saved yourself.”[f]
God Hates the Death of the Wicked
10 “‘Now, Son of Man, tell this to the house of Israel:
‘You keep saying, “Our crimes and sins burden us so much that we’re rotting away, so how can we keep on living?”’
11 “Tell them, ‘As certainly as I’m alive and living,’ declares the Lord God, ‘I receive no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Instead, my pleasure is that the wicked repent from their behavior[g] and live. Turn back! Turn back, all of you, from your wicked behavior! Why do you have to die, you house of Israel?’”
Human Effort is Useless in Sustaining Righteousness
12 “And now, Son of Man, say this to your people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous won’t save them when they keep on committing crimes against me, the wickedness of the wicked won’t keep them from remaining away[h] when they’re turning from their wickedness, and no righteous person will keep on living by their righteousness when they sin.’
13 “If I tell the righteous person that he will certainly live, if he trusts in his own righteousness and commits evil, none of his righteousness will be remembered, and he will die because of the wrong that he commits.
14 “If I tell the wicked person that he will certainly die, if he turns from his sin and acts with justice and righteousness, 15 returning what has been placed as collateral for a loan, paying back what he has taken, following the regulations that promote life, and committing no iniquity, he will certainly live, and not die. 16 None of the sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. Since he did what is just and right, he will certainly live.
17 “Nevertheless, your people’s children keep saying, ‘Living life the Lord’s way[i] isn’t right,’ when all the while it is their way of living[j] that isn’t right. 18 When a righteous man forsakes his own righteousness and commits evil acts, he will die because of those acts, 19 and when the wicked turn away from their wickedness and do what is just and right, he will certainly live because of that. 20 “And yet you keep saying, ‘Living life[k] the Lord’s way isn’t right,’ But I will judge every one of you according to the way you live, you house of Israel!”
The Authority of the Son
19 Jesus told them, “Truly, I tell all of you[a] emphatically, the Son can do nothing on his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing, What the Father does, the Son does likewise. 20 The Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing, and he will show him even greater actions than these, so that you may be amazed. 21 Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to those he chooses. 22 The Father judges no one, but has given all authority to judge to the Son, 23 so that everyone may honor the Son as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.
24 “Truly, I tell all of you[b] emphatically, whoever hears what I say and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged, but has passed from death to life. 25 Truly, I tell all of you[c] emphatically, the time approaches, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear it will live. 26 Just as the Father has life in himself, so also he has granted the Son to have life in himself, 27 and he has given him authority to judge, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Don’t be amazed at this, because the time is approaching when everyone in their graves will hear the Son of Man’s[d] voice 29 and will come out—those who have done what is good to the resurrection that leads to[e] life, and those who have practiced what is evil to the resurrection that ends in[f] condemnation.[g] 30 I can do nothing on my own accord. I judge according to what I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.”
Jesus’ Greater Testimony
31 “If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not trustworthy. 32 There is another who testifies about me, and I know[h] that the testimony he gives about me is true. 33 You have sent messengers[i] to John, and he has testified to the truth. 34 I myself do not accept human testimony, but I am saying these things so that you may be saved. 35 That man John[j] was a lamp that burns and brightly shines, and for a while you were willing to rejoice in his light.
36 “But I have a greater testimony than John’s, because the actions that the Father has given me to complete—the very actions that I am doing—testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. 37 Moreover, the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen what he looks like, 38 nor do you have his word at work[k] in you, because you do not believe in the one whom he sent. 39 You examine the Scriptures carefully because you suppose that in them you have eternal life. Yet they testify about me. 40 But you are not willing to come to me to have life.
Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.