Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
18 “Stop dwelling on past events
and brooding over times gone by;
19 I am doing something new;
it’s springing up — can’t you see it?
I am making a road in the desert,
rivers in the wasteland.
20 The wild animals will honor me,
the jackals and the ostriches;
because I put water in the desert,
rivers in the wasteland,
for my chosen people to drink,
21 the people I formed for myself,
so that they would proclaim my praise.
22 But you haven’t called on me, Ya‘akov;
because you have grown weary of me, Isra’el.
23 You have not brought me sheep for your burnt offerings,
you have not honored me with your sacrifices.
I didn’t burden you by requiring grain offerings.
or weary you by demanding frankincense.
24 You have not spent money to buy me sweet cane
or filled me with the fat of your sacrifices.
Instead, you have burdened me with your sins
and wearied me with your crimes.
25 I, yes I, am the one who blots out
your offenses for my own sake;
I will not remember your sins.
41 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David:
2 (1) How blessed are those who care for the poor!
When calamity comes, Adonai will save them.
3 (2) Adonai will preserve them, keep them alive,
and make them happy in the land.
You will not hand them over
to the whims of their enemies.
4 (3) Adonai sustains them on their sickbed;
when they lie ill, you make them recover.
5 (4) I said, “Adonai, have pity on me!
Heal me, for I have sinned against you!”
6 (5) My enemies say the worst about me:
“When will he die and his name disappear?”
7 (6) When they come to see me they speak insincerely,
their hearts meanwhile gathering falsehoods;
then they go out and spread bad reports.
8 (7) All who hate me whisper together against me,
imagining the worst about me.
9 (8) “A fatal disease has attached itself to him;
now that he lies ill, he will never get up.”
10 (9) Even my close friend, on whom I relied,
who shared my table, has turned against me.
11 (10) But you, Adonai, have pity on me,
put me on my feet, so I can pay them back.
12 (11) I will know you are pleased with me
if my enemy doesn’t defeat me.
13 (12) You uphold me because of my innocence
you establish me in your presence forever.
14 (13) Blessed be Adonai the God of Isra’el
from eternity past to eternity future.
Amen. Amen.
18 As surely as God is trustworthy, we don’t say “Yes” when we mean “No.” 19 For the Son of God, the Messiah Yeshua, who was proclaimed among you through us — that is, through me and Sila and Timothy — was not a yes-and-no man; on the contrary, with him it is always “Yes!” 20 For however many promises God has made, they all find their “Yes” in connection with him; that is why it is through him that we say the “Amen” when we give glory to God. 21 Moreover, it is God who sets both us and you in firm union with the Messiah; he has anointed us, 22 put his seal on us, and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee for the future.
2 After a while, Yeshua returned to K’far-Nachum. The word spread that he was back, 2 and so many people gathered around the house that there was no longer any room, not even in front of the door. While he was preaching the message to them, 3 four men came to him carrying a paralyzed man. 4 They could not get near Yeshua because of the crowd, so they stripped the roof over the place where he was, made an opening, and lowered the stretcher with the paralytic lying on it. 5 Seeing their trust, Yeshua said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 Some Torah-teachers sitting there thought to themselves, 7 “How can this fellow say such a thing? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins except God?” 8 But immediately Yeshua, perceiving in his spirit what they were thinking, said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier to say to the paralyzed man? ‘Your sins are forgiven’? or ‘Get up, pick up your stretcher and walk’? 10 But look! I will prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” He then said to the paralytic, 11 “I say to you: get up, pick up your stretcher and go home!” 12 In front of everyone the man got up, picked up his stretcher at once and left. They were all utterly amazed and praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.