Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

(By David.)

Praise the Lord with All Your Heart

A Funeral Song for the King of Tyre

¹¹ The Lord said:

¹² Ezekiel, son of man, sing a funeral song for the king of Tyre^[a] and tell him I am saying:

At one time, you were perfect,^[b] intelligent, and good-looking. ¹³ You lived in the garden of Eden and wore jewelry made of brightly colored gems and precious stones. They were all set in gold^[c] and were ready for you on the day you were born. ¹⁴ I appointed a winged creature to guard your home^[d] on my holy mountain, where you walked among gems that dazzled like fire.

¹⁵ You were truly good from the time of your birth, but later you started doing wicked things. ¹⁶ You traded with other nations and became more and more cruel and evil. So I forced you to leave my mountain, and the creature that had been your protector now chased you away from the jewels.

¹⁷ It was your good looks that made you arrogant, and you were so famous that you started acting like a fool. That's why I threw you to the ground and let other kings sneer at you. ¹⁸ You have cheated so many other merchants that your places of worship are corrupt. So I set your city on fire and burned it down. Now everyone sees only ashes where your city once stood, ¹⁹ and the people of other nations are shocked. Your punishment was horrible, and you are gone forever.

Taking Each Other to Court

6 When one of you has a complaint against another, do you take your complaint to a court of sinners? Or do you take it to God's people? ² Don't you know that God's people will judge the world? And if you are going to judge the world, can't you settle small problems? ³ Don't you know we will judge angels? And if this is so, we can surely judge everyday matters. ⁴ Why do you take everyday complaints to judges who are not respected by the church? ⁵ I say this to your shame. Aren't any of you wise enough to act as a judge between one follower and another? ⁶ Why should one of you take another to be tried by unbelievers?

⁷ When one of you takes another to court, all of you lose. It would be better to let yourselves be cheated and robbed. ⁸ But instead, you cheat and rob other followers.

⁹ Don't you know that evil people won't have a share in the blessings of God's kingdom? Don't fool yourselves! No one who is immoral or worships idols or is unfaithful in marriage or is a pervert or behaves like a homosexual ¹⁰ will share in God's kingdom. Neither will any thief or greedy person or drunkard or anyone who curses and cheats others. ¹¹ Some of you used to be like that. But now the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the power of God's Spirit have washed you and made you holy and acceptable to God.