Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Prayer for the Lord’s Help.

A Song of Ascents.

¹⁶ “As for you, ^(A)do not pray for this people, and do not lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not plead with Me; for I am not listening to you. ¹⁷ Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸ The ^[a]children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make sacrificial cakes for the queen of heaven; and they ^(B)pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to ^(C)provoke Me to anger. ^19 (D)Are they provoking Me?” declares the Lord. “Is it not themselves instead, to their ^[b]own ^(E)shame?” ²⁰ Therefore this is what the Lord ^[c]God says: “Behold, My ^(F)anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on human and animal life, and on the ^(G)trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.”

²¹ This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Add your ^(H)burnt offerings to your sacrifices and ^(I)eat flesh. ²² For I did not ^(J)speak to your fathers, or command them on the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. ²³ But this is ^[d]what I commanded them, saying, ‘^(K)Obey My voice, and ^(L)I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you shall walk ^[e]entirely in the way which I command you, so that it may ^(M)go well for you.’ ²⁴ Yet they ^(N)did not obey or incline their ear, but walked by their own advice and in the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and they ^[f](O)went backward and not forward. ²⁵ Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have ^(P)sent you all My servants the prophets, sending them daily, again and again. ²⁶ Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but ^(Q)stiffened their neck; they ^(R)did more evil than their fathers.

^7 [a](A)You are looking at ^[b]things as they are outwardly. ^(B)If anyone is confident in himself that he is Christ’s, have him consider this again within himself, that just as he is Christ’s, ^(C)so too are we. ⁸ For if ^(D)I boast somewhat ^[c]more about our ^(E)authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be put to shame, ^9 [d]for I do not want to seem as if I would terrify you by my letters. ¹⁰ For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his ^[e]personal presence is ^(F)unimpressive and ^(G)his speech contemptible.” ¹¹ Have such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when absent, such persons we are also in deed when present.