Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
9
Be gracious and compassionate to me, O Lord, for I am in trouble;
My eye is clouded and weakened by grief, my soul and my body also.
10
For my life is spent with sorrow
And my years with sighing;
My strength has failed because of my iniquity,
And even my body has wasted away.
11
Because of all my enemies I have become a reproach and disgrace,
Especially to my neighbors,
And an object of dread to my acquaintances;
Those who see me on the street run from me.
12
I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind;
I am like a broken vessel.
13
For I have heard the slander and whispering of many,
Terror is on every side;
While they schemed together against me,
They plotted to take away my life.(A)
14
But as for me, I trust [confidently] in You and Your greatness, O Lord;
I said, “You are my God.”
15
My times are in Your hands;
Rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from those who pursue and persecute me.
16
Make Your face shine upon Your servant;
Save me in Your lovingkindness.
10
Yet the Lord was [a]willing
To crush Him, [b]causing Him to suffer;
If [c]He would give Himself as a guilt offering [an atonement for sin],
He shall see His [spiritual] offspring,
He shall prolong His days,
And the will (good pleasure) of the Lord shall succeed and prosper in His hand.
11
As a result of the [d]anguish of His soul,
He shall see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge [of what He has accomplished] the Righteous One,
My Servant, shall justify the many [making them righteous—upright before God, in right standing with Him],
For He shall bear [the responsibility for] their sins.
12
Therefore, I will divide and give Him a portion with the great [kings and rulers],
And He shall divide the spoils with the mighty,
Because He [willingly] poured out His life to death,
And was counted among the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore and took away the sin of many,
And interceded [with the Father] for the transgressors.(A)
Give Heed
2 [a]For this reason [that is, because of God’s final revelation in His Son Jesus and because of Jesus’ superiority to the angels] we must pay much closer attention than ever to the things that we have heard, so that we do not [in any way] drift away from truth. 2 For if the message given [b]through angels [the Law given to Moses] was authentic and unalterable, and every violation and disobedient act received an appropriate penalty, 3 how will we escape [the penalty] if we ignore such a great salvation [the gospel, the new covenant]? For it was spoken at first by the Lord, and it was confirmed to us and proved authentic by those who personally heard [Him speak], 4 [and besides this evidence] God also testifying with them [confirming the message of salvation], both by signs and wonders and by various miracles [carried out by Jesus and the apostles] and by [granting to believers the] gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.
Earth Subject to Man
5 It was not to angels that God subjected the [inhabited] world of the future [when Christ reigns], about which we are speaking. 6 But one has [solemnly] testified somewhere [in Scripture], saying,
“What is man, that You are mindful of him,
Or the son of man, that You graciously care for him?
7
“You have made him for a little while lower [in status] than the angels;
You have crowned him with glory and honor,
[c]And set him over the works of Your hands;
8
You have put all things in subjection under his feet [confirming his supremacy].”
Now in putting all things in subjection to man, He left nothing outside his control. But at present we do not yet see all things subjected to him.(A)
Jesus Briefly Humbled
9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while [by taking on the limitations of humanity], crowned with glory and honor because of His suffering of death, so that by the grace of God [extended to sinners] He might experience death for [the sins of] everyone.
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