Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
21 O Sovereign Lord,
intervene on my behalf for the sake of your reputation.[a]
Because your loyal love is good, deliver me.
22 For I am oppressed and needy,
and my heart beats violently within me.[b]
23 I am fading away like a shadow at the end of the day;[c]
I am shaken off like a locust.
24 I am so starved my knees shake;[d]
I have turned into skin and bones.[e]
25 I am disdained by them.[f]
When they see me, they shake their heads.[g]
26 Help me, O Lord my God.
Because you are faithful to me, deliver me.[h]
27 Then they will realize[i] this is your work,[j]
and that you, Lord, have accomplished it.
28 They curse, but you will bless.[k]
When they attack, they will be humiliated,[l]
but your servant will rejoice.
29 My accusers will be covered[m] with shame,
and draped in humiliation as if it were a robe.
30 I will thank the Lord profusely.[n]
In the middle of a crowd[o] I will praise him,
31 because he stands at the right hand of the needy,
to deliver him from those who threaten[p] his life.
Israel’s Rebellion
20 In the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth of the month,[a] some of the elders[b] of Israel came to seek[c] the Lord, and they sat down in front of me. 2 The Lord’s message came to me: 3 “Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and tell them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Are you coming to seek me? As surely as I live, I will not allow you to seek me,[d] declares the Sovereign Lord.’ 4 Are you willing to pronounce judgment on them?[e] Are you willing to pronounce judgment, son of man? Then confront them with the abominable practices of their fathers, 5 and say to them:
“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On the day I chose Israel I swore[f] to the descendants[g] of the house of Jacob and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt. I swore[h] to them, “I am the Lord your God.” 6 On that day I swore[i] to bring them out of the land of Egypt to a land that I had picked out[j] for them, a land flowing with milk and honey,[k] the most beautiful of all lands. 7 I said to them, “Each of you must get rid of the detestable idols you keep before you,[l] and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.” 8 But they rebelled against me and refused to listen to me; no one got rid of their detestable idols,[m] nor did they abandon the idols of Egypt. Then I decided to pour out[n] my rage on them and fully vent my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. 9 I acted for the sake of my reputation,[o] so that I would not be profaned before the nations among whom they lived,[p] before whom I revealed myself by bringing them out of the land of Egypt.[q]
10 “‘So I brought them out of the land of Egypt and led them to the wilderness. 11 I gave them my statutes[r] and revealed my regulations to them. The one[s] who carries[t] them out will live by them![u] 12 I also gave them my Sabbaths[v] as a reminder of our relationship,[w] so that they would know that I, the Lord, sanctify them.[x] 13 But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness; they did not follow my statutes and they rejected my regulations (the one who obeys them will live by them), and they utterly desecrated my Sabbaths. So I decided to pour out[y] my rage on them in the wilderness and destroy them.[z] 14 I acted for the sake of my reputation, so that I would not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. 15 I also swore[aa] to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them to the land I had given them—a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands. 16 I did this[ab] because they rejected my regulations, did not follow my statutes, and desecrated my Sabbaths; for their hearts followed their idols.[ac] 17 Yet I had pity on[ad] them and did not destroy them, so I did not make an end of them in the wilderness.
Exposition of Psalm 95: Hearing God’s Word in Faith
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,[a]
“Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks![b]
8 “Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness.
9 “There your fathers tested me and tried me,[c] and they saw my works for forty years.
10 “Therefore, I became provoked at that generation and said, ‘Their hearts are always wandering[d] and they have not known my ways.’
11 “As I swore in my anger, ‘They will never enter my rest!’”[e]
12 See to it,[f] brothers and sisters,[g] that none of you has[h] an evil, unbelieving heart that forsakes[i] the living God.[j] 13 But exhort one another each day, as long as it is called “Today,” that none of you may become hardened by sin’s deception. 14 For we have become partners with Christ, if in fact we hold our initial confidence[k] firm until the end. 15 As it says,[l] “Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks![m] Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”[n] 16 For which ones heard and rebelled? Was it not all who came out of Egypt under Moses’ leadership?[o] 17 And against whom was God[p] provoked for forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness?[q] 18 And to whom did he swear they would never enter into his rest, except those who were disobedient? 19 So[r] we see that they could not enter because of unbelief.
God’s Promised Rest
4 Therefore we must be wary[s] that, while the promise of entering his rest remains open, none of you may seem to have come short of it. 2 For we had good news proclaimed to us just as they did. But the message they heard did them no good, since they did not join in[t] with those who heard it in faith.[u] 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my anger, ‘They will never enter my rest!’”[v] And yet God’s works[w] were accomplished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he has spoken somewhere about the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works,”[x] 5 but to repeat the text cited earlier:[y] “They will never enter my rest!” 6 Therefore it remains for some to enter it, yet those to whom it was previously proclaimed did not enter because of disobedience. 7 So God[z] again ordains a certain day, “Today,” speaking through David[aa] after so long a time, as in the words quoted before,[ab] “Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks![ac] Do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God[ad] would not have spoken afterward about another day. 9 Consequently a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God. 10 For the one who enters God’s[ae] rest has also rested from his works, just as God did from his own works. 11 Thus we must make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by following the same pattern of disobedience.
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