Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹² The Lord will do what he has planned against Jerusalem and Mount Zion. Then he will punish the proud and boastful king of Assyria, ¹³ who says:

I did these things by my own power because I am smart and clever. I attacked kings like a wild bull, and I took the land and the treasures of their nations. ¹⁴ I have conquered the whole world! And it was easier than taking eggs from an unguarded nest. No one even flapped a wing or made a peep.

¹⁵ King of Assyria, can an ax or a saw overpower the one who uses it? Can a wooden pole lift whoever holds it? ¹⁶ The mighty Lord All-Powerful will send a terrible disease to strike down your army, and you will burn with fever under your royal robes. ¹⁷ The holy God, who is the light of Israel, will turn into a fire, and in one day you will go up in flames, just like a thornbush. ¹⁸ The Lord will make your beautiful forests and fertile fields slowly rot. ¹⁹ There will be so few trees that even a young child can count them.

Only a Few Will Come Back

²⁰ A time is coming when the survivors from Israel and Judah will completely depend on the holy Lord of Israel, instead of the nation^[a] that defeated them.

²⁵ Some of the people from Jerusalem were saying, “Isn't this the man they want to kill? ²⁶ Yet here he is, speaking for everyone to hear. And no one is arguing with him. Do you suppose the authorities know he is the Messiah? ²⁷ But how could that be? No one knows where the Messiah will come from, but we know where this man comes from.”

²⁸ As Jesus was teaching in the temple, he shouted, “Do you really think you know me and where I came from? I didn't come on my own! The one who sent me is truthful, and you don't know him. ²⁹ But I know the one who sent me, because I came from him.”

³⁰ Some of the people wanted to arrest Jesus right then. But no one even laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come.^{[a] 31} A lot of people in the crowd put their faith in him and said, “When the Messiah comes, he surely won't perform more miracles^[b] than this man has done!”

Officers Sent To Arrest Jesus

³² When the Pharisees heard the crowd arguing about Jesus, they got together with the chief priests and sent some temple police to arrest him. ³³ But Jesus told them, “I will be with you a little while longer, and then I will return to the one who sent me. ³⁴ You will look for me, but you won't find me. You cannot go where I am going.”

³⁵ The people asked each other, “Where can he go to keep us from finding him? Is he going to some foreign country where our people live? Is he going there to teach the Greeks?^{[c] 36} What did he mean by saying that we will look for him, but won't find him? Why can't we go where he is going?”