Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
169 Hear my cry to you, Lord.
Let your word help me understand.
170 Listen to my prayer.
Save me as you promised.
171 Let me speak your praise.
You have taught me your demands.
172 Let me sing about your promises.
All your commands are fair.
173 Always be ready to help me
because I have chosen to obey your commands.
174 I want you to save me, Lord.
I love your teachings.
175 Let me live so I can praise you.
Your laws will help me.
176 I have wandered like a lost sheep.
Look for your servant because I have not forgotten your commands.
12 The Lord will finish doing what he planned to Mount Zion and Jerusalem. Then he will punish Assyria. The king of Assyria is very proud. His pride made him do these bad things. So God will punish him. 13 The king of Assyria says this:
“By my own power I have done these things.
By my wisdom I have defeated many nations.
I have taken their wealth.
And like a mighty one, I have taken their people.
14 I have taken the riches of all these people,
like one who reaches into a bird’s nest.
I have taken these nations,
like a person taking eggs.
No one raised a hand against me.
No one opened his mouth to stop me.”
15 An ax is not better than the person who swings it.
A saw is not better than the person who uses it.
A stick cannot control the person who picks it up.
A club cannot pick up the person!
16 So the Master, the Lord of heaven’s armies,
will send a terrible disease against Assyria’s soldiers.
The strength of Assyria will be burned up.
It will be like a fire burning until everything is gone.
17 God, the Light of Israel, will be like a fire.
The Holy One will be like a flame.
He will be like a fire
that suddenly burns the weeds and thorns.
18 The fire burns away the great trees and rich farmlands.
It will destroy everything.
Things will be like a sick man who wastes away.
19 Only a few trees will be left standing.
There will be so few even a child will be able to count them.
20 At that time some people will be left alive in Israel
from the family of Jacob.
They will not continue to depend
on the person who defeated them.
They will learn truly to depend on the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel.
Is Jesus the Christ?
25 Then some of the people who lived in Jerusalem said, “This is the man they are trying to kill. 26 But he is teaching where everyone can see and hear him. And no one is trying to stop him. Maybe the leaders have decided that he really is the Christ. 27 But we know where this man is from. Yet when the real Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from.”
28 Jesus was still teaching in the Temple. He cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. But I have not come by my own authority. I was sent by the One who is true. You don’t know him. 29 But I know him. I am from him, and he sent me.”
30 When Jesus said this, they tried to seize him. But no one was able to touch him. It was not yet the right time. 31 But many of the people believed in Jesus. They said, “When the Christ comes, will he do more miracles than this man has done?”
Some Leaders Try to Arrest Jesus
32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering these things about Jesus. So the leading priests and the Pharisees sent some Temple guards to arrest him. 33 Then Jesus said, “I will be with you a little while longer. Then I will go back to the One who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me. And you cannot come where I am.”
35 The Jews said to each other, “Where will this man go so we cannot find him? Will he go to the Greek cities where our people live? Will he teach the Greek people there? 36 This man says, ‘You will look for me but you will not find me.’ He also says, ‘You cannot come where I am.’ What does this mean?”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.