Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
21 But You, O God my Lord,
work on my behalf for your name’s sake;
because your mercy is good, deliver me.
22 For I am poor and needy,
and my heart is wounded within me.
23 I am gone like a shadow in the evening;
I am tossed as the locust.
24 My knees are weak through fasting,
and my body is thin with no fat.
25 I am a reproach to my accusers;
when they look upon me, they shake their heads.
26 Help me, O Lord my God!
Save me according to Your mercy,
27 that they may know that this is by Your hand,
that You, O Lord, have done it.
28 Let them curse, but You will bless;
when they arise, let them be ashamed,
but let Your servant rejoice.
29 Let my adversaries be clothed with shame,
and let them cover themselves with their own disgrace like a cloak.
30 I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth;
indeed, I will praise Him among the multitude.
31 For He stands at the right hand of the poor,
to save him from those who condemn his soul to death.
Israel’s Continuing Rebellion
20 In the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord and sat before me.
2 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 3 Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Do you come to inquire of Me? As I live, says the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.
4 Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers. 5 And say to them: Thus says the Lord God: On the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up My hand to the seed of the house of Jacob, and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up My hand to them, saying, I am the Lord your God, 6 on that day that I lifted up My hand to them to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had selected for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands, 7 then I said to them: Cast away, each of you, the abominations of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
8 But they rebelled against Me and would not listen to Me. They did not cast away the abominations of their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said I will pour out My fury upon them, to accomplish My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. 9 But I acted for My name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the nations among whom they were, in whose sight I made Myself known to them in bringing them out of the land of Egypt. 10 Therefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. 11 I gave them My statutes and showed them My judgments, which if a man does them, he shall live. 12 Moreover I gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them.
13 But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not walk in My statutes, and they despised My judgments, which if a man does them, he shall live. And My Sabbaths they greatly polluted. Then I said I would pour out My fury upon them in the wilderness to consume them. 14 But I acted for My name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the nations in whose sight I brought them out. 15 Also I lifted up My hand to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands, 16 because they despised My judgments and did not walk in My statutes, but polluted My Sabbaths. For their hearts went after their idols. 17 Nevertheless My eye spared them from destroying them, nor did I make an end of them in the wilderness.
A Rest for God’s People
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you hear His voice,
8 do not harden your hearts
as in the rebellion,
on the day of temptation in the wilderness,
9 where your fathers tested Me and tried Me
and saw My works for forty years.
10 Therefore I was angry with that generation,
and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
and they have not known My ways.’
11 So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”[a]
12 Be attentive, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, and you depart from the living God. 13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence firmly to the end, 15 while it is said:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
do not harden your hearts
as in the rebellion.”[b]
16 For who were they who heard and rebelled? Was it not all of those who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17 And with whom was He grieved for forty years? Was it not with those who had sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they could not enter because of unbelief.
4 Therefore, since the promise of entering His rest remains, let us fear lest any of you should seem to come short of it. 2 For the gospel was preached to us as well as to them. But the word preached did not benefit them, because it was not mixed with faith in those who heard it. 3 For we who have believed have entered this rest, as He has said,
“As I have sworn in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”[c]
However, His works have been finished since the creation of the world. 4 For He spoke somewhere about the seventh day like this: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works.”[d] 5 And again in the present passage He said, “They shall not enter My rest.”[e]
6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and they to whom it was first preached did not enter due to unbelief, 7 again He establishes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David, after so long a time, as it has been said:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
do not harden your hearts.”[f]
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have later spoken of another day. 9 Therefore a rest remains for the people of God. 10 For whoever enters His rest will also cease from his own works, as God did from His. 11 Let us labor therefore to enter that rest, lest anyone fall by the same pattern of unbelief.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.