Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

God’s Dealings with Israel Rehearsed

20 Now in the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth of the month, men from the ^(A)elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord, and they sat before me. ² Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ³ “Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord ^[a]God says: “Do you yourselves come to inquire of Me? As I live,” declares the Lord God, “^(B)I certainly will not be inquired of by you.”’ ⁴ Will you judge them, will you judge them, son of man? ^(C)Make known to them the abominations of their fathers; ⁵ and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “On the day when I ^(D)chose Israel and ^[b]swore to the ^[c]descendants of the house of Jacob and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I ^[d]swore to them, saying, ^(E)I am the Lord your God, ⁶ on that day I swore to them, ^(F)to bring them out from the land of Egypt into a land that I had ^[e]selected for them, ^(G)flowing with milk and honey, which is ^(H)the glory of all the lands. ⁷ And I said to them, ‘^(I)Throw away, each of you, the detestable things of his eyes, and ^(J)do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; ^(K)I am the Lord your God.’ ⁸ But they ^(L)rebelled against Me and were not willing to listen to Me; they did not throw away, each of them, the detestable things of their eyes, nor did they abandon the ^(M)idols of Egypt.

“Then I ^[f]resolved to ^(N)pour out My wrath on them, to ^[g]use up My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. ⁹ But I acted ^(O)for the sake of My name, that it would ^(P)not be defiled in the sight of the nations among whom they lived, in whose sight I made Myself known to them by bringing them out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁰ So I took them out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the ^(Q)wilderness. ¹¹ I gave them My ^(R)statutes and informed them of My ordinances, ^(S)which, if ^[h]a person ^[i]follows them, then he will live by them. ¹² Also I gave them My Sabbaths to be a ^(T)sign between Me and them, so that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. ¹³ But the house of Israel ^(U)rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not walk in My statutes and they rejected My ordinances, ^(V)which, if ^[j]a person ^[k]follows them, then he will live by them; and they greatly profaned My ^(W)Sabbaths. Then I ^[l]resolved to ^(X)pour out My wrath on them in the wilderness, to annihilate them. ¹⁴ But I acted for the sake of My name, so that it would not be defiled before the eyes of the nations, before whose eyes I had brought them out. ¹⁵ Also ^(Y)I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all the lands, ¹⁶ because they rejected My ordinances, and as for My statutes, they did not walk in them; they also profaned My Sabbaths, because their ^(Z)heart continually followed their idols. ¹⁷ Yet My eye spared them rather than destroying them, and I did not bring about their ^(AA)annihilation in the wilderness.

⁷ Therefore, just as ^(A)the Holy Spirit says,

The Danger of Unbelief

^12 (H)Take care, brothers and sisters, that there will not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart ^[b]that falls away from ^(I)the living God. ¹³ But ^(J)encourage one another every day, as long as it is still called “today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the ^(K)deceitfulness of sin. ¹⁴ For we have become partakers of Christ ^(L)if we keep the beginning of our ^[c](M)commitment firm until the end, ¹⁵ while it is said,

¹⁶ For who ^(O)provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, ^(P)did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? ¹⁷ And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, ^(Q)whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness? ¹⁸ And to whom did He swear ^(R)that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were ^(S)disobedient? ¹⁹ And so we see that they were not able to enter because of ^(T)unbelief.

The Believer’s Rest

4 Therefore, we must fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have ^(U)come short of it. ² For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also did; but ^(V)the word ^[e]they heard did not benefit them, because ^[f]they were not united with those who listened with faith. ³ For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said,

although His works were finished ^(X)from the foundation of the world. ⁴ For He has said ^(Y)somewhere concerning the seventh day: “^(Z)And God ^(AA)rested on the seventh day from all His works”; ⁵ and again in this passage, “^(AB)They certainly shall not enter My rest.” ⁶ Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who previously had good news preached to them failed to enter because of ^(AC)disobedience, ⁷ He again sets a certain day, “Today,” saying ^[g]through David after so long a time just ^(AD)as has been said before,

⁸ For ^(AF)if ^[h]Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. ⁹ Consequently, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. ¹⁰ For the one who has entered His rest has himself also ^(AG)rested from his works, as ^(AH)God did from His. ¹¹ Therefore let’s make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same ^(AI)example of ^(AJ)disobedience.