Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
To the director: With instruments. One of Asaph’s songs of praise.
76 People in Judah know God.
People in Israel respect his name.
2 His Temple is in Salem.[a]
His house is on Mount Zion.
3 There he shattered the arrows,
shields, swords, and other weapons of war. Selah
4 God, you are glorious coming back
from the hills where you defeated your enemies.
5 They thought they were strong, but now they lie dead in the fields.
Their bodies are stripped of all they owned.
They could not defend themselves.[b]
6 The God of Jacob shouted at them,
and their army of chariots and horses fell dead.
7 God, you are awesome!
No one can stand against you when you are angry.
8-9 You stood as judge and announced your decision.
You saved the humble people of the land.
From heaven you gave the decision,
and the whole earth was silent and afraid.
10 Even human anger can bring you honor
when you use it to punish your enemies.[c]
11 People, you made promises to the Lord your God.
Now give him what you promised.
People everywhere fear and respect God,
and they will bring gifts to him.
12 God defeats great leaders;
all the kings on earth fear him.
Egypt Will Become Weak Forever
20 On the seventh day of the first month of the eleventh year of exile,[a] the word of the Lord came to me. He said, 21 “Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. No one will wrap his arm with a bandage. It will not heal, so his arm will not be strong enough to hold a sword.”
22 This is what the Lord God says: “I am against Pharaoh, king of Egypt. I will break both his arms, the strong arm and the arm that is already broken. I will make the sword fall from his hand. 23 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations. 24 I will make the arms of the king of Babylon strong. I will put my sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh will cry out in pain, the kind of cry that a dying man makes. 25 So I will make the arms of the king of Babylon strong, but the arms of Pharaoh will fall. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
“I will put my sword in the hand of the king of Babylon. Then he will stretch the sword out against the land of Egypt. 26 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord!”
Victory Over the World
25 “I have told you these things, using words that hide the meaning. But the time will come when I will not use words like that to tell you things. I will speak to you in plain words about the Father. 26 Then you will be able to ask the Father for things in my name. I’m not saying that I will have to ask the Father for you. 27 The Father himself loves you because you have loved me. And he loves you because you have believed that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”
29 Then his followers said, “You are already speaking plainly to us. You are not using words that hide the meaning. 30 We can see now that you know all things. You answer our questions even before we ask them. This makes us believe that you came from God.”
31 Jesus said, “So now you believe? 32 Listen to me. A time is coming when you will be scattered, each to his own home. In fact, that time is already here. You will leave me, and I will be alone. But I am never really alone, because the Father is with me.
33 “I have told you these things so that you can have peace in me. In this world you will have troubles. But be brave! I have defeated the world!”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International