Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
For the director of music. A psalm of David to be played on flutes.
5 Lord, listen to my words.
Pay attention when I mourn.
2 My King and my God,
hear me when I cry for help.
I pray to you.
3 Lord, in the morning you hear my voice.
In the morning I pray to you.
I wait for you in hope.
4 For you, God, aren’t happy with anything that is evil.
Those who do what is wrong can’t live where you are.
5 Those who are proud can’t stand in front of you.
You hate everyone who does what is evil.
6 You destroy those who tell lies.
Lord, you hate murderers and those who cheat others.
7 Because of your great love
I can come into your house.
With deep respect I bow down
toward your holy temple.
8 Lord, I have many enemies.
Lead me in your right path.
Make your way smooth and straight for me.
9 Not a word from their mouths can be trusted.
Their hearts are filled with a desire to hurt others.
Their throats are like open graves.
With their tongues they tell lies.
10 God, show that they are guilty.
Let their evil plans bring them down.
Send them away because of their many sins.
They have refused to obey you.
11 But let all those who go to you for safety be glad.
Let them always sing for joy.
Spread your cover over them and keep them safe.
Then those who love you will be glad because of you.
12 Surely, Lord, you bless those who do what is right.
Like a shield, your loving care keeps them safe.
18 Another message came to me from the Lord who rules over all.
He said, 19 “You have established special times to go without eating. They are your fasts in the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months. They will become days of joy. They will be happy times for Judah. It will happen if you take delight in telling the truth and bringing about peace.”
20 He continued, “Many nations will still come to you. And those who live in many cities will also come. 21 The people who live in one city will go to another city. They will say, ‘Let’s go right away to ask the Lord for his blessing. Let’s look to him as our God. We ourselves are going.’ 22 Large numbers of people and nations will come to Jerusalem. They will look to me. They will ask me to bless them.”
23 He continued, “At that time many people of all nations and languages will take hold of one Jew. They will grab hold of the hem of his robe. And they will say, ‘We want to go to Jerusalem with you. We’ve heard that God is with you.’ ”
Warnings About Saying No to the Son
18 Dear children, we are living in the last days. You have heard that the great enemy of Christ is coming. But even now many enemies of Christ have already come. That’s how we know that these are the last days. 19 These enemies left our community of believers. They didn’t really belong to us. If they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But by leaving they showed that none of them belonged to us.
20 You have received the Spirit from the Holy One. And all of you know the truth. 21 I’m not writing to you because you don’t know the truth. I’m writing because you do know it. I’m writing to you because no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar? It is anyone who says that Jesus is not the Christ. The person who says this is the great enemy of Christ. They say no to the Father and the Son. 23 The person who says no to the Son doesn’t belong to the Father. But anyone who says yes to the Son belongs to the Father also.
24 Make sure that you don’t forget what you have heard from the beginning. Then you will remain joined to the Son and to the Father. 25 And here is what God has promised us. He has promised us eternal life.
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