Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The Hope of the Faithful, and the Messiah’s Victory
A (A)Michtam of David.
16 Preserve[a] me, O God, for in You I put my trust.
2 O my soul, you have said to the Lord,
“You are my Lord,
(B)My goodness is nothing apart from You.”
3 As for the saints who are on the earth,
“They are the excellent ones, in (C)whom is all my delight.”
4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god;
Their drink offerings of (D)blood I will not offer,
(E)Nor take up their names on my lips.
5 O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You [b]maintain my lot.
6 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Yes, I have a good inheritance.
7 I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel;
My [c]heart also instructs me in the night seasons.
8 (F)I have set the Lord always before me;
Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will [d]rest in hope.
10 (G)For You will not leave my soul in [e]Sheol,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to [f]see corruption.
11 You will show me the (H)path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
15 “But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked;
(A)You grew fat, you grew thick,
You are obese!
Then he (B)forsook God who (C)made him,
And scornfully esteemed the (D)Rock of his salvation.
16 (E)They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods;
With [a]abominations they provoked Him to anger.
17 (F)They sacrificed to demons, not to God,
To gods they did not know,
To new gods, new arrivals
That your fathers did not fear.
18 (G)Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful,
And have (H)forgotten the God who fathered you.
19 “And(I) when the Lord saw it, He spurned them,
Because of the provocation of His sons and His daughters.
20 And He said: ‘I will hide My face from them,
I will see what their end will be,
For they are a perverse generation,
(J)Children in whom is no faith.
21 (K)They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God;
They have moved Me to anger (L)by their [b]foolish idols.
But (M)I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation;
I will move them to anger by a foolish nation.
22 For (N)a fire is kindled in My anger,
And shall burn to the [c]lowest [d]hell;
It shall consume the earth with her increase,
And set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23 ‘I will (O)heap disasters on them;
(P)I will spend My arrows on them.
24 They shall be wasted with hunger,
Devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction;
I will also send against them the (Q)teeth of beasts,
With the poison of serpents of the dust.
25 The sword shall destroy outside;
There shall be terror within
For the young man and virgin,
The nursing child with the man of gray hairs.
26 (R)I would have said, “I will dash them in pieces,
I will make the memory of them to cease from among men,”
27 Had I not feared the wrath of the enemy,
Lest their adversaries should misunderstand,
Lest they should say, (S)“Our hand is high;
And it is not the Lord who has done all this.” ’
39 ‘Now see that (A)I, even I, am He,
And (B)there is no God besides Me;
(C)I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand.
40 For I raise My hand to heaven,
And say, “As I live forever,
41 (D)If I [a]whet My glittering sword,
And My hand takes hold on judgment,
I will render vengeance to My enemies,
And repay those who hate Me.
42 I will make My arrows drunk with blood,
And My sword shall devour flesh,
With the blood of the slain and the captives,
From the heads of the leaders of the enemy.” ’
Jesus Predicts His Death and Resurrection(A)
21 (B)And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, (C)“The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”
Take Up the Cross and Follow Him(D)
23 (E)Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross [a]daily, and follow Me. 24 (F)For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 (G)For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? 26 (H)For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be (I)ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels. 27 (J)But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.