Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 37
Do Not Fret Because of Evildoers
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By David.
Do Not Be Frustrated by the Wicked
1 Do not fret because of evildoers.
Do not be envious of those who do wrong,
2 for like grass they will wither quickly.
Like green plants they will wilt.
Trust in God’s Goodness
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good.
Dwell in the land and feed on faithfulness.[a]
4 Take pleasure in the Lord,
and he will grant your heart’s desires.
5 Commit your way to the Lord.
Trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will make your righteousness shine like light,
your justice like noon.
7 Be silent before the Lord. Wait patiently for him.
Do not fret when an evil man succeeds in his ways,
when he carries out his wicked schemes.
Consider the Final Destiny of the Wicked
8 Let go of anger and abandon rage.
Do not fret—it leads only to evil.
9 For evildoers will be cut off,
but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the earth.
Hezekiah Son of Ahaz, King of Judah
18 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah, became king. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he ruled for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi[a] daughter of Zechariah. 3 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, like everything that his father David had done. 4 He removed the high places, smashed the sacred memorial stones, cut down the Asherah poles, and broke into pieces the bronze serpent which Moses had made, because until those days the people of Israel had been burning incense to it. They called it Nehushtan.[b]
5 He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, and there was no one like him among the kings of Judah, before him or after him. 6 He held fast to the Lord. He did not turn aside from following him, but he kept the command which the Lord commanded Moses. 7 The Lord was with him. Wherever he went, the Lord gave him success. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. 8 He struck down the Philistines all the way to Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.
28 Then the herald stood up and called out in a loud voice in Hebrew and said the following:
Listen to the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 29 This is what the king says. Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you, because he can’t save you from my hand. 30 And don’t let Hezekiah cause you to trust in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will surely save us! He will not let this city be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”
31 Don’t listen to Hezekiah because this is what the king of Assyria says. Make a peace treaty with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat from his own vine and drink from his own cistern, 32 until I come and take you to a land like your own land, a land with grain and sweet wine, a land with bread and vineyards, a land with olive oil and honey, so that you may live and not die. Don’t listen to Hezekiah because he is misleading you when he says, “The Lord will save us.”
33 Have the gods of any nation ever saved their land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Did they save Samaria from my hand? 35 Who among all the gods of the lands saved their land from my hand? Will the Lord really save Jerusalem from my hand?
36 But the people were silent. They did not answer him a word because the king had commanded them not to speak or answer.
Letter to the Church in Smyrna
8 To the messenger of the church in Smyrna write:
The First and the Last, who was dead and came to life again, says this:
9 I know[a] your suffering and your poverty—but you are rich. And I know the blasphemy that comes from those who say they are Jews but are not; rather, they are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not fear anything that[b] you are about to suffer. Look, the Devil is about to throw some of you into prison so that you will be tested, and you will suffer for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
11 Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.