Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A prayer of David.

A Vision of the High Priest Dressed in Fine Clothes

3 Then the Lord showed me Joshua the high priest. He was standing in front of the angel of the Lord. Satan was standing to the right of Joshua. He was there to bring charges against the high priest. ² The Lord said to Satan, “May the Lord correct you! He has chosen Jerusalem. So may he correct you! Isn’t this man Joshua like a burning stick pulled out of the fire?”

³ Joshua stood in front of the angel. He was wearing clothes that were very dirty. ⁴ The angel spoke to those who were standing near him. He said, “Take his dirty clothes off.”

He said to Joshua, “I have taken your sin away. I will put fine clothes on you.”

⁵ I added, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they did. And they dressed him while the angel of the Lord stood by.

⁶ Then the angel spoke to Joshua. He said, ⁷ “The Lord who rules over all says, ‘You must obey me. You must do what I have commanded. Then you will rule in my temple. You will be in charge of my courtyards. And I will give you a place among these who are standing here.

⁸ “ ‘High Priest Joshua, pay attention! I want you other priests who are sitting with Joshua to listen also. All you men are signs of things to come. I am going to bring to you my servant the Branch. ⁹ Look at the stone I have put in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes on that one stone. I will carve a message on it,’ says the Lord who rules over all. ‘And I will remove the sin of this land in one day.

¹⁰ “ ‘At that time each of you will invite your neighbors to visit you. They will sit under your vines and fig trees,’ announces the Lord.”

⁴ God did not spare angels when they sinned. Instead, he sent them to hell. He chained them up in dark prisons. He will keep them there until he judges them. ⁵ God did not spare the world’s ungodly people long ago. He brought the flood on them. But Noah preached about the right way to live. God kept him safe. He also saved seven others. ⁶ God judged the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He burned them to ashes. He made them an example of what is going to happen to ungodly people. ⁷ God saved Lot, a man who did what was right. Lot was shocked by the evil conduct of people who didn’t obey God’s laws. ⁸ That good man lived among them day after day. He saw and heard the evil things they were doing. They were breaking God’s laws. And the godly spirit of Lot was deeply troubled. ⁹ Since all this is true, then the Lord knows how to save godly people. He knows how to keep them safe in times of testing. The Lord also knows how to keep ungodly people under guard. He will do so until the day they will be judged and punished. ¹⁰ Most of all, this is true of people who follow desires that come from sin’s power. These people hate to be under authority.

They are bold and proud. So they aren’t even afraid to speak evil things against heavenly beings. ¹¹ Now angels are stronger and more powerful than these people. But even angels don’t speak evil things against heavenly beings. They don’t do this when they bring judgment on them from the Lord. ¹² These people speak evil about things they don’t understand. They are like wild animals who can’t think. Instead, they do what comes naturally to them. They are born only to be caught and destroyed. Just like animals, these people too will die.

¹³ They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to have wild parties in the middle of the day. They are like dirty spots and stains. They enjoy their sinful pleasures while they eat with you. ¹⁴ They stare at women who are not their wives. They want to sleep with them. They never stop sinning. They trap those who are not firm in their faith. They have mastered the art of getting what they want. God has placed them under his judgment. ¹⁵ They have left God’s way. They have wandered off. They follow the way of Balaam, son of Beor. He loved to get paid for doing his evil work. ¹⁶ But a donkey corrected him for the wrong he did. Animals don’t speak. But the donkey spoke with a human voice. It tried to stop the prophet from doing a very dumb thing.

¹⁷ These people are like springs without water. They are like mists driven by a storm. The blackest darkness is reserved for them. ¹⁸ They speak empty, bragging words. They make their appeal to the evil desires that come from sin’s power. They tempt new believers who are just escaping from the company of sinful people. ¹⁹ They promise to give freedom to these new believers. But they themselves are slaves to sinful living. That’s because “people are slaves to anything that controls them.” ²⁰ They may have escaped the sin of the world. They may have come to know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But what if they are once again caught up in sin? And what if it has become their master? Then they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. ²¹ Suppose they had not known the way of godliness. This would have been better than to know godliness and then turn away from it. The way of godliness is the sacred command passed on to them.