Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
An Oracle Concerning Sacrifices
A psalm of Asaph.[a]
50 The Supreme God, God, Yahweh, has spoken
and summoned the earth,
from the rising of the sun
to its setting.
2 From Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.
3 Our God comes and he is not silent.
Before him fire devours,
and around him it is very tempestuous.
4 He summons the heavens above
and the earth that he might judge his people:
5 “Gather to me my loyal ones,
those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
6 And the heavens declare his righteousness,
because God himself is judge. Selah
7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak,
O Israel, and I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
8 It is not concerning a lack of your sacrifices that I rebuke you,
and your burnt offerings are before me continually.
9 I will not take from your house a bull
or from your stalls a he-goat,
10 because every animal of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know every bird of the mountains,
and every moving creature in the field is mine.
12 If I were hungry I would not tell you,
because the world and its fullness are mine.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God a thank offering
and pay your vows to the Most High.
15 And call me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will glorify me.”
16 But to the wicked God says,
“What right have you to recite my statutes
and mention my covenant with your mouth,[b]
17 while you yourself hate discipline,
and cast my words behind you?
18 When you see a thief, then you are pleased with him,
and your association is with adulterers.
19 You give your mouth free rein for evil,
and you harness your tongue to deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your brother;
you slander your mother’s son.
21 These things you have done, and I have been silent;
You imagined that I was just like you.
I will rebuke you and present an argument before your eyes.
22 Now consider this, you who forget God,
lest I tear you apart, and there will be none to deliver.
23 He who sacrifices a thank offering honors me,
and he who orders his way;
I will show him the salvation of God.”
7 And then,[a] in the fourth year of King Darius, the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Kislev. 2 And the people of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech, and their[b] men, to entreat the favor[c] of Yahweh, 3 saying to the priests of the house of Yahweh of hosts[d] and to the prophets, “Should I mourn in the fifth month and keep myself separate[e] as I have done for these many years?” 4 And the word of Yahweh of hosts came to me, saying, 5 “Say to all the people of the land and to the priests: ‘When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, did you really fast for me? 6 And when you eat and drink, are you not eating and drinking for yourselves? 7 Are not these the words that Yahweh proclaimed through[f] the former prophets, when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns[g] were inhabited and at ease, and the Negev[h] and the Shephelah[i] were inhabited?’”
8 And the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah, saying, 9 “Thus says Yahweh of hosts: ‘Judge with trustworthy justice, and show[j] steadfast love and compassion to one another.[k] 10 You must not oppress the widow, the orphan, the foreigner, and the needy. You must not devise evil in your heart against one another.’[l] 11 But they refused to listen, and turned[m] a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from listening.[n] 12 They made their hearts adamant[o] in order not to hear the law[p] and the words that Yahweh of hosts had sent by his spirit through[q] the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from Yahweh of hosts. 13 ‘Thus, just as I[r] called and they would not hear, so they will call and I will not hear,’ says Yahweh of hosts. 14 ‘And I scattered them with a wind among all the nations that they had not known; the land was made desolate behind them— no one crossing through it or returning—and they made the desirable land[s] a desolation.’”
Condemnation of the Ungodly False Teachers
5 Now I want to remind you, although you know everything once and for all,[a] that Jesus,[b] having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, the second time destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep to their own domain but deserted their proper dwelling place, he has kept in eternal bonds under deep gloom for the judgment of the great day, 7 as Sodom and Gomorrah and the towns around them indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire[c] in the same way as these, are exhibited as an example by[d] undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
8 Despite that, in the same way also these men, because of their[e] dreams, defile the flesh and reject authority and blaspheme majestic beings. 9 But Michael the archangel, when he argued with the devil, disputing concerning the body of Moses, did not dare to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10 But these persons blaspheme all that they do not understand, and all that they understand by instinct like the irrational animals, by these things they are being destroyed. 11 Woe to them! For they have traveled in the way of Cain, and have given themselves up to the error of Balaam for gain, and have perished[f] in the rebellion of Korah. 12 These are the ones feasting together without reverence, hidden reefs at your love feasts, caring for themselves, waterless clouds carried away by winds, late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, uprooted, 13 wild waves of the sea foaming up their own shameful deeds, wandering stars, for whom the deep gloom of darkness has been reserved for eternity.
14 And Enoch, the seventh from Adam, also prophesied about[g] these people, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with tens of thousands of his holy ones 15 to execute judgment against all, and to convict all the ungodly[h] concerning all their ungodly deeds that they have committed in an ungodly way, and concerning all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him. 16 These people are grumblers, discontented, proceeding according to their[i] desires, and their mouths speaking pompous words, showing partiality to gain an advantage[j].
Persevere in the Love of God
17 But you, dear friends, remember the words proclaimed beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, 18 for they said to you,[k] “In the end time there will be scoffers following according to their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly, not having the Spirit. 20 But you, dear friends, by[l] building yourselves up in your most holy faith, by[m] praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
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