Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
All People Will Learn About God
65 The Lord says, “I ·made myself known to people [L allowed myself to be sought by those] who were not looking for me.
I was found by those who were not asking me for help.
I said, ‘Here I am. Here I am,’
to a nation that ·was not praying to me [did not call on my name; or called by my name].
2 All day long I ·stood ready to accept [L stretched out my hands to a]
people who ·turned [rebelled] against me,
but the way they continue to ·live [walk] is not good;
·they do anything they want to do [following their own thoughts/schemes].
3 ·Right in front of me [To my face]
they continue to do things that make me angry.
They offer sacrifices to their gods in their gardens [1:29],
and they burn incense on altars of brick.
4 They sit among the graves
and spend their nights ·waiting to get messages from the dead [or keeping vigil; or in secret places].
They eat the ·meat [flesh] of pigs [C unclean animal; Lev. 11:7; Deut. 14:8],
and their pots are full of soup made from ·meat that is wrong to eat [defiled/polluted things].
5 But they tell others, ‘Stay away, and don’t come near me.
I am too holy for you.’
These ·people [or practices] are like smoke in my ·nose [nostrils].
Like a fire that burns all ·the time [day long; C their sin never ceases and God’s anger grows].
6 “Look, it is written here before me.
I will not ·be quiet [keep silent]; instead, I will repay you in full.
I will ·punish you for what you have done [L pay it back into their laps/bosom].
7 I will punish you for your sins and your ·ancestors’ [fathers’] sins,”
says the Lord.
“They burned incense ·to gods on [L on] the mountains
and ·shamed [insulted; defied] me on those hills.
So I will ·punish them as they should be punished
for what they did [L measure into their laps/bosoms payment for their former deeds].”
8 This is what the Lord says:
“When there is ·juice left [new wine; or good grapes] in a bunch of grapes,
people say, “Don’t destroy it,
because there is ·good left [L blessing] in it.”
So I will do the same thing to my servants—
I will not destroy them all.
9 I will ·leave some of the children of [produce/bring forth offspring/seed from] Jacob,
and some of the people of Judah will ·receive [possess; inherit] my mountain.
·I will choose the people who [My chosen ones] will ·live there [possess/inherit it];
my servants will live there.
19 But, Lord, don’t be far away.
You are my ·strength [or help]; hurry to help me.
20 ·Save [Rescue; T Deliver] me from the sword;
save my life from the dogs.
21 ·Rescue [Save; T Deliver] me from the lion’s mouth;
·save [L answer] me from the horns of the bulls.
22 Then I will ·tell my brothers and sisters about you [L recount your name/reputation to my brothers];
I will praise you in the ·public meeting [assembly; congregation].
23 Praise the Lord, all you who ·respect [fear] him [Prov. 1:7].
All you ·descendants [seed] of Jacob [C Israelites], ·honor [glorify] him;
·fear [revere] him, all you Israelites.
24 He does not ·ignore [despise or disdain] ·those in trouble [L the suffering of the afflicted].
He doesn’t hide his face from them
but listens when they ·call out to him [cry to him for help].
25 Lord, ·I praise you [L from you comes my praise] in the great ·meeting of your people [assembly];
these ·worshipers [L who fear him] will see me ·do what I promised [L fulfill my vows].
26 ·Poor [or Afflicted] people will eat ·until they are full [and be satisfied];
those who ·look to the Lord [L seek him] will praise him.
May your hearts live forever!
27 ·People everywhere [L All the ends of the earth] will remember
and will turn to the Lord.
All the families of the nations
will worship him
28 because ·the Lord is King [rule belongs to the Lord],
and he rules the nations.
23 Before this faith came, we were all held prisoners by the law. We ·had no freedom [were locked up] until ·God showed us the way of faith that was coming [L the coming faith would be revealed]. 24 In other words, the law was our ·guardian [child-minder; tutor; C an attendant slave who watched over a child in a wealthy Greco-Roman household] ·leading us to [or until] Christ so that we could be ·made right with God [declared righteous; justified] through faith. 25 Now ·the way of faith [L faith] has come, and we no longer live under a ·guardian [child-minder; tutor; v. 24].
26 [L For] ·You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus [or In Christ Jesus you are all children/sons of God through faith]. 27 [L For] All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 In Christ, there is ·no difference between Jew and Greek [L neither Jew nor Greek], slave and free person, male and female. You are all ·the same [or united; L one] in Christ Jesus. 29 ·You [L If you…] belong to Christ, so you are Abraham’s ·descendants [seed]. ·You will inherit all of God’s blessings because of the promise God made to Abraham [L …heirs according to the promise].
A Man with Demons Inside Him(A)
26 ·Jesus and his followers [L They] sailed across the lake from Galilee to the area of the Gerasene[a] people [C Gerasa was southeast of Lake Galilee; the exact location is uncertain]. 27 When Jesus got out on the land, a man from the town who ·had demons inside him [was possessed by demons] came to Jesus. For a long time he had worn no clothes and had lived in the ·burial caves [tombs], not in a house. 28 When he saw Jesus, he ·cried out [shouted; shrieked] and fell down before him. He said with a loud voice, “·What do you want with me [Leave me alone; What business do we have with each other; L What to me and to you], Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t ·torture [torment] me!” 29 He said this because Jesus was commanding [reprimanding; rebuking] the ·evil [defiling; L unclean; 4:33] spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had ·taken hold of [seized; taken control of] him. Though he had been kept under guard and chained hand and foot, he had broken his chains and had been ·forced [driven] by the demon out into ·a lonely place [the desert/wilderness].
30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
He answered, “Legion,” because many demons ·were in [had entered] him [C a legion was about five thousand Roman soldiers; the sense here is “many”]. 31 The demons begged Jesus not to ·send them [L command them to depart] into ·eternal darkness [the bottomless pit; L the Abyss]. 32 A large herd of pigs [C considered ritually unclean by Jews] was feeding on a hill, and the demons begged Jesus to allow them to go into the pigs. So Jesus allowed them to do this. 33 When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd ·ran [rushed] down the ·hill [steep bank; precipice] into the lake and was drowned.
34 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they ·ran away [fled] and ·told about [reported] this in the town and the countryside. 35 And people went to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind, because the demons were gone. But the people were frightened. 36 The people who saw this happen told the others how Jesus had made the [L demon-possessed] man well. 37 All the ·people [crowd; multitude] of the Gerasene ·country [region] asked Jesus to leave [L them], because they were all ·very afraid [overwhelmed/seized with great fear]. So Jesus got into the boat and ·went back across the lake [left; L returned].
38 The man ·whom Jesus had healed [L from whom the demons had gone out] begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Go back home and ·tell [explain to] people ·how much [or what great things] God has done for you.” So the man went all over town ·telling [proclaiming] ·how much [or what great things] Jesus had done for him.
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.