Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

In the Shadow of Your Wings

A ^(A)Prayer of David.

A Vision of Joshua the High Priest

3 Then he showed me ^(A)Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and ^(B)Satan^[a] standing at his right hand to accuse him. ² And the Lord said to Satan, ^(C)“The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has ^(D)chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this ^(E)a brand^[b] plucked from the fire?” ³ Now ^(F)Joshua was standing before the angel, ^(G)clothed with filthy garments. ⁴ And the angel said to ^(H)those who were standing before him, ^(I)“Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, ^(J)I have taken your iniquity away from you, and ^(K)I will clothe you with pure vestments.” ⁵ And I said, ^(L)“Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord was standing by.

⁶ And the angel of the Lord solemnly assured ^(M)Joshua, ⁷ “Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and ^(N)keep my charge, then you shall ^(O)rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among ^(P)those who are standing here. ⁸ Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for ^(Q)they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring ^(R)my servant ^(S)the Branch. ⁹ For behold, on ^(T)the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with ^(U)seven eyes,^[c] I will ^(V)engrave its inscription, declares the Lord of hosts, and ^(W)I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. ¹⁰ In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come ^(X)under his vine and under his fig tree.”

⁴ For if God did not spare ^(A)angels when they sinned, but ^(B)cast them into hell^[a] and committed them to chains^[b] of gloomy darkness ^(C)to be kept until the judgment; ⁵ if he did not spare the ancient world, but ^(D)preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought ^(E)a flood upon the world of the ungodly; ⁶ if by ^(F)turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, ^(G)making them an example of ^(H)what is going to happen to the ungodly;^{[c] 7} and ^(I)if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked ⁸ (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, ^(J)he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); ⁹ then ^(K)the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials,^[d] and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, ¹⁰ and especially ^(L)those who indulge^[e] in the lust of defiling passion and ^(M)despise authority.

Bold and willful, they do not tremble ^(N)as they blaspheme the glorious ones, ^11 (O)whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. ^12 (P)But these, like irrational animals, ^(Q)creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, ¹³ suffering wrong as ^(R)the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure ^(S)to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions,^[f] while ^(T)they feast with you. ¹⁴ They have eyes full of adultery,^{[g] (U)}insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts ^(V)trained in greed. ^(W)Accursed children! ¹⁵ Forsaking the right way, ^(X)they have gone astray. They have followed ^(Y)the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved ^(Z)gain from wrongdoing, ¹⁶ but was rebuked for his own transgression; ^(AA)a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.

^17 (AB)These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. ^(AC)For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. ¹⁸ For, ^(AD)speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely ^(AE)escaping from those who live in error. ¹⁹ They promise them ^(AF)freedom, ^(AG)but they themselves are slaves^[h] of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. ²⁰ For if, ^(AH)after they have escaped the defilements of the world ^(AI)through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, ^(AJ)the last state has become worse for them than the first. ²¹ For ^(AK)it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from ^(AL)the holy commandment delivered to them.