Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
For the choir director; a maskil; a psalm by David when Doeg (who was from Edom) told Saul that David had come to Ahimelech’s home.
52 Why do you brag about the evil you’ve done, you hero?
The mercy of God lasts all day long!
2 Your tongue makes up threats.
It’s like a sharp razor, you master of deceit.
3 You prefer evil to good.
You prefer lying to speaking the truth. Selah
4 You love every destructive accusation, you deceitful tongue!
5 But God will ruin you forever.
He will grab you and drag you out of your tent.
He will pull your roots out of this world of the living. Selah
6 Righteous people will see ⌞this⌟ and be struck with fear.
They will laugh at you and say,
7 “Look at this person who refused to make God his fortress!
Instead, he trusted his great wealth
and became strong through his greed.”
8 But I am like a large olive tree in God’s house.
I trust the mercy of God forever and ever.
9 I will give thanks to you forever
for what you have done.
In the presence of your godly people,
I will wait with hope in your good name.
Egypt Will Be Conquered as Assyria Was Conquered
31 On the first day of the third month in the eleventh year, the Lord spoke his word to me. He said, 2 “Son of man, say to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and his many people,
‘Was there ever anyone as great as you?
3 What about Assyria?
It was a cedar in Lebanon
with fine branches that shaded the forest.
It was very tall.
Its top was among the clouds.
4 Water made the tree grow,
and underground springs made it tall.
Rivers flowed around the place where the tree was planted.
Streams ran beside all the other trees around it.
5 That is why it grew taller than all the other trees in the field.
Its branches became large and long because of so much water.
6 All the birds made their nests in its branches.
All the wild animals gave birth to their young under it.
All the powerful nations lived in its shade.
7 So the tree was big and beautiful with its long branches.
Its roots reached down to many sources of water.
8 The cedar trees in God’s garden couldn’t compare to it.
The pine trees couldn’t equal its branches.
The plane trees couldn’t measure up to its branches.
All the trees in God’s garden couldn’t match its beauty.
9 I was the one who made it beautiful with its many branches.
This tree was the envy of all the trees in Eden, in God’s garden.
10 “ ‘This is what the Almighty Lord says: The tree grew very tall, and its top reached the clouds. It became arrogant because it was so tall. 11 So I handed it over to a mighty ruler among the nations, and he surely dealt with it. I forced it out because of its wickedness. 12 Foreigners from the most ruthless nation cut it down and threw it away. Its branches fell on the mountains and in every valley. Its broken branches fell in every ravine in the land. All the nations in the world came out from under its shade and left.
Paul Summarizes His Teachings about Circumcision
11 Look at how large the letters ⌞in these words⌟ are because I’m writing this myself.
12 These people who want to make a big deal out of a physical thing are trying to force you to be circumcised. Their only aim is to avoid persecution because of the cross of Christ. 13 It’s clear that not even those who had themselves circumcised did this to follow Moses’ laws. Yet, they want you to be circumcised so that they can brag about what was done to your body. 14 But it’s unthinkable that I could ever brag about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. By his cross my relationship to the world and its relationship to me have been crucified. 15 Certainly, it doesn’t matter whether a person is circumcised or not. Rather, what matters is being a new creation. 16 Peace and mercy will come to rest on all those who conform to this principle. They are the Israel of God.[a]
17 From now on, don’t make any trouble for me! After all, I carry the scars of Jesus on my body.
18 May the good will [b] of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters! Amen.
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