Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 141[a]
A psalm of David.
141 O Lord, I cry out to you. Come quickly to me.
Pay attention to me when I cry out to you.
2 May you accept my prayer like incense,
my uplifted hands like the evening offering.[b]
3 O Lord, place a guard on my mouth.
Protect the opening[c] of my lips.[d]
4 Do not let me have evil desires,[e]
or participate in sinful activities
with men who behave wickedly.[f]
I will not eat their delicacies.[g]
5 May the godly strike me in love and correct me.
May my head not refuse[h] choice oil.[i]
Indeed, my prayer is a witness against their evil deeds.[j]
6 They will be thrown over the side of a cliff by their judges.[k]
They[l] will listen to my words, for they are pleasant.
7 As when one plows and breaks up the soil,[m]
so our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.
8 Surely I am looking to you,[n] O Sovereign Lord.
In you I take shelter.
Do not expose me to danger.[o]
9 Protect me from the snare they have laid for me,
and the traps the evildoers have set.[p]
10 Let the wicked fall[q] into their[r] own nets,
while I escape.[s]
21 “I will display my majesty[a] among the nations. All the nations will witness the judgment I have executed and the power I have exhibited[b] among them. 22 Then the house of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God, from that day forward. 23 The nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile due to their iniquity,[c] for they were unfaithful to me. So I hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies; all of them died by the sword. 24 According to their uncleanness and rebellion I have dealt with them, and I hid my face from them.
25 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Now I will restore[d] the fortunes of Jacob, and I will have mercy on the entire house of Israel. I will be zealous for my holy name. 26 They will bear their shame for all their unfaithful acts against me, when they live securely on their land with no one to make them afraid. 27 When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will magnify myself among them in the sight of many nations. 28 Then they will know that I am the Lord their God because I sent them into exile among the nations and then gathered them into their own land. I will not leave any of them in exile[e] any longer. 29 I will no longer hide my face from them, when I pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel,[f] declares the Sovereign Lord.”
Vision of the New Temple
40 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city[g] was struck down, on this very day,[h] the hand[i] of the Lord was on me, and he brought me there.[j] 2 By divine visions[k] he brought me to the land of Israel and placed me on a very high mountain,[l] and on it was a structure like a city, to the south. 3 When he brought me there, I saw[m] a man whose appearance was like bronze, with a linen cord and a measuring stick in his hand. He was standing in the gateway. 4 The man said to me, “Son of man, watch closely, listen carefully, and pay attention[n] to everything I show you, for you have been brought here so that I can show it to you.[o] Tell the house of Israel everything you see.”
Live to Glorify God
23 “Everything is lawful,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is lawful,”[a] but not everything builds others up.[b] 24 Do not seek your own good, but the good of the other person. 25 Eat anything that is sold in the marketplace without questions of conscience, 26 for the earth and its abundance are the Lord’s.[c] 27 If an unbeliever invites you to dinner and you want to go, eat whatever is served without asking questions of conscience. 28 But if someone says to you, “This is from a sacrifice,” do not eat, because of the one who told you and because of conscience[d]— 29 I do not mean yours but the other person’s. For why is my freedom being judged by another’s conscience? 30 If I partake with thankfulness, why am I blamed for the food[e] that I give thanks for? 31 So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. 32 Do not give offense to Jews or Greeks or to the church of God, 33 just as I also try to please everyone in all things. I do not seek my own benefit, but the benefit[f] of many, so that they may be saved. 11 1 Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.
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