Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
21 But you, Lord, my Lord,
deal kindly with me for your name’s sake;(A)
because your faithful love is good, rescue me.(B)
22 For I am suffering and needy;(C)
my heart is wounded within me.(D)
23 I fade away like a lengthening shadow;(E)
I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees are weak from fasting,
and my body is emaciated.[a](F)
25 I have become an object of ridicule to my accusers;[b]
when they see me, they shake their heads in scorn.(G)
26 Help me, Lord my God;
save me according to your faithful love(H)
27 so they may know that this is your hand
and that you, Lord, have done it.(I)
28 Though they curse, you will bless.
When they rise up, they will be put to shame,
but your servant will rejoice.(J)
29 My accusers will be clothed with disgrace;
they will wear their shame like a cloak.(K)
30 I will fervently thank the Lord with my mouth;
I will praise him in the presence of many.(L)
31 For he stands at the right hand of the needy
to save him from those who would condemn him.(M)
Israel’s Rebellion
20 In the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, some of Israel’s elders came to inquire of the Lord,(A) and they sat down in front of me. 2 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 3 “Son of man, speak with the elders of Israel and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: Are you coming to inquire of me? As I live, I will not let you inquire of me.(B) This is the declaration of the Lord God.’
4 “Will you pass judgment against them, will you pass judgment, son of man? Explain the detestable practices of their ancestors to them.(C) 5 Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: On the day I chose Israel, I swore an oath[a](D) to the descendants of Jacob’s house and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt. I swore to them, saying, “I am the Lord your God.”(E) 6 On that day I swore[b] to them that I would bring them out(F) of the land of Egypt into a land I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey,(G) the most beautiful of all lands.(H) 7 I also said to them, “Throw away, each of you, the abhorrent things that you prize,[c] and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt.(I) I am the Lord your God.”(J)
8 “‘But they rebelled against me and were unwilling to listen to me. None of them threw away the abhorrent things that they prized,[d] and they did not abandon the idols of Egypt. So I considered pouring out my wrath on them,(K) exhausting my anger against them within the land of Egypt. 9 But I acted for the sake of my name,(L) so that it would not be profaned in the eyes of the nations they were living among, in whose sight I had made myself known to Israel by bringing them out of Egypt.
10 “‘So I brought them out of the land of Egypt and led them into the wilderness.(M) 11 Then I gave them my statutes and explained my ordinances to them—the person who does them will live by them.(N) 12 I also gave them my Sabbaths to serve as a sign between me and them,(O) so that they would know that I am the Lord who consecrates them.
13 “‘But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness.(P) They did not follow my statutes and they rejected my ordinances—the person who does them will live by them.(Q) They also completely profaned my Sabbaths.(R) So I considered pouring out my wrath on them in the wilderness to put an end to them.(S) 14 But I acted for the sake of my name, so that it would not be profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. 15 However, I swore to them(T) in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land I had given them—the most beautiful of all lands, flowing with milk and honey— 16 because they rejected my ordinances, profaned my Sabbaths, and did not follow my statutes. For their hearts went after their idols.(U) 17 Yet I spared them from destruction and did not bring them to an end in the wilderness.(V)
Warning against Unbelief
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 testing in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested me, tried me,
and saw my works 10 for forty years.
Therefore I was provoked to anger with that generation
and said, “They always go astray in their hearts,
and they have not known my ways.”
11 So I swore in my anger,
“They will not enter my rest.”[a](A)
12 Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away(B) from the living God. 13 But encourage each other daily,(C) while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened(D) by sin’s deception.(E) 14 For we have become participants in Christ if we hold firmly until the end the reality[b] that we had at the start.(F) 15 As it is said:
16 For who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it all who came out of Egypt under Moses?(H) 17 With whom was God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?(I) 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
The Promised Rest
4 Therefore, since the promise to enter his rest remains, let us beware[d] that none of you be found to have fallen short.[e] 2 For we also have received the good news just as they did. But the message they heard did not benefit them, since they were not united with those who heard it in faith.[f](J) 3 For we who have believed enter the rest, in keeping with what[g] he has said,
even though his works have been finished since the foundation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in this way: And on the seventh day God rested from all his works.[i](L) 5 Again, in that passage he says, They will never enter my rest.[j] 6 Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news did not enter because of disobedience,(M) 7 he again specifies a certain day—today. He specified this speaking through David after such a long time:
8 For if Joshua(O) had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains for God’s people. 10 For the person who has entered his rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from his.(P) 11 Let us, then, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience.
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