Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Prayer for Deliverance

⁸ “Mortal man, listen to what I tell you. Don't be rebellious like them. Open your mouth and eat what I am going to give you.” ^9 (A)I saw a hand reaching out toward me, and it was holding a scroll. ¹⁰ The hand unrolled the scroll, and I saw that there was writing on both sides—cries of grief were written there, and wails and groans.

3 ^(B)God said, “Mortal man, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.”

² So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. ³ He said, “Mortal man, eat this scroll that I give you; fill your stomach with it.” I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey.

⁴ Then God said, “Mortal man, go to the people of Israel and say to them whatever I tell you to say. ⁵ I am not sending you to a nation that speaks a difficult foreign language, but to the Israelites. ⁶ If I sent you to great nations that spoke difficult languages you didn't understand, they would listen to you. ⁷ But none of the people of Israel will be willing to listen; they will not even listen to me. All of them are stubborn and defiant. ⁸ Now I will make you as stubborn and as tough as they are. ⁹ I will make you as firm as a rock, as hard as a diamond; don't be afraid of those rebels.”

¹⁰ God continued, “Mortal man, pay close attention and remember everything I tell you. ¹¹ Then go to the people of your nation who are in exile and tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to them, whether they pay attention to you or not.”

Paul's Sufferings as an Apostle

¹⁶ I repeat: no one should think that I am a fool. But if you do, at least accept me as a fool, just so I will have a little to boast of. ¹⁷ Of course what I am saying now is not what the Lord would have me say; in this matter of boasting I am really talking like a fool. ¹⁸ But since there are so many who boast for merely human reasons, I will do the same. ¹⁹ You yourselves are so wise, and so you gladly tolerate fools! ²⁰ You tolerate anyone who orders you around or takes advantage of you or traps you or looks down on you or slaps you in the face. ²¹ I am ashamed to admit that we were too timid to do those things!

But if anyone dares to boast about something—I am talking like a fool—I will be just as daring. ²² Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I. ^23 (A)Are they Christ's servants? I sound like a madman—but I am a better servant than they are! I have worked much harder, I have been in prison more times, I have been whipped much more, and I have been near death more often. ^24 (B)Five times I was given the thirty-nine lashes by the Jews; ^25 (C)three times I was whipped by the Romans; and once I was stoned. I have been in three shipwrecks, and once I spent twenty-four hours in the water. ^26 (D)In my many travels I have been in danger from floods and from robbers, in danger from my own people and from Gentiles; there have been dangers in the cities, dangers in the wilds, dangers on the high seas, and dangers from false friends. ²⁷ There has been work and toil; often I have gone without sleep; I have been hungry and thirsty; I have often been without enough food, shelter, or clothing. ²⁸ And not to mention other things, every day I am under the pressure of my concern for all the churches. ²⁹ When someone is weak, then I feel weak too; when someone is led into sin, I am filled with distress.

³⁰ If I must boast, I will boast about things that show how weak I am. ³¹ The God and Father of the Lord Jesus—blessed be his name forever!—knows that I am not lying. ^32 (E)When I was in Damascus, the governor under King Aretas placed guards at the city gates to arrest me. ³³ But I was let down in a basket through an opening in the wall and escaped from him.