Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Our Eyes Look to the Lord Our God

A Song of ^(A)Ascents.

¹⁶ “As for you, ^(A)do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you. ¹⁷ Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸ The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, ^(B)and the women knead dough, to ^(C)make cakes for ^(D)the queen of heaven. And ^(E)they pour out drink offerings to other gods, ^(F)to provoke me to anger. ^19 (G)Is it I whom they provoke? declares the Lord. Is it not themselves, ^(H)to their own shame? ²⁰ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^(I)my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; ^(J)it will burn and not be quenched.”

²¹ Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(K)“Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. ²² For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them ^(L)concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. ²³ But this command I gave them: ^(M)‘Obey my voice, and ^(N)I will be your God, and you shall be my people. ^(O)And walk in all the way that I command you, ^(P)that it may be well with you.’ ^24 (Q)But they did not obey or incline their ear, ^(R)but walked in their own counsels and ^(S)the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and ^(T)went backward and not forward. ²⁵ From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, ^(U)I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day. ^26 (V)Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, ^(W)but stiffened their neck. ^(X)They did worse than their fathers.

^7 (A)Look at what is before your eyes. ^(B)If anyone is confident that he is Christ's, let him remind himself that just as ^(C)he is Christ's, ^(D)so also are we. ⁸ For even if I boast a little too much of ^(E)our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed. ⁹ I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters. ¹⁰ For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but ^(F)his bodily presence is weak, and ^(G)his speech of no account.” ¹¹ Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present.