Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
11 O Lord, teach me how you want me to live.[a]
Then I will obey your commands.[b]
Make me wholeheartedly committed to you.[c]
12 O Lord, my God, I will give you thanks with my whole heart.
I will honor your name continually.[d]
13 For you will extend your great loyal love to me,[e]
and will deliver my life[f] from the depths of Sheol.[g]
14 O God, arrogant men attack me;[h]
a gang[i] of ruthless men, who do not respect you, seek my life.[j]
15 But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and merciful God.
You are patient[k] and demonstrate great loyal love and faithfulness.[l]
16 Turn toward me and have mercy on me.
Give your servant your strength.
Deliver this son of your female servant.[m]
17 Show me evidence of your favor.[n]
Then those who hate me will see it and be ashamed,[o]
for you, O Lord, will help me and comfort me.[p]
The Lord Challenges the Pagan Gods
21 “Present your argument,” says the Lord.
“Produce your evidence,”[a] says Jacob’s king.[b]
22 “Let them produce evidence! Let them tell us what will happen!
Tell us about your earlier predictive oracles,[c]
so we may examine them[d] and see how they were fulfilled.[e]
Or decree for us some future events!
23 Predict how future events will turn out,[f]
so we might know you are gods.
Yes, do something good or something bad,
so we might be frightened and in awe.[g]
24 Look, you are nothing, and your accomplishments are nonexistent;
the one who chooses to worship you is disgusting.[h]
25 I have stirred up one out of the north[i] and he advances,
one from the eastern horizon who prays in my name.[j]
He steps on[k] rulers as if they were clay,
like a potter treading the clay.
26 Who decreed this from the beginning, so we could know?
Who announced it[l] ahead of time, so we could say, ‘He’s correct’?
Indeed, none of them decreed it.
Indeed, none of them announced it.
Indeed, no one heard you say anything!
27 I first decreed to Zion, ‘Look, here’s what will happen!’[m]
I sent a herald to Jerusalem.
28 I look, but there is no one,
among them there is no one who serves as an adviser,
that I might ask questions and receive answers.
29 Look, all of them are nothing,[n]
their accomplishments are nonexistent;
their metal images lack any real substance.[o]
Warning Against Drifting Away
2 Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2 For if the message spoken through angels[a] proved to be so firm that every violation[b] or disobedience received its just penalty, 3 how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first communicated through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him, 4 while God confirmed their witness[c] with signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed[d] according to his will.
Exposition of Psalm 8: Jesus and the Destiny of Humanity
5 For he did not put the world to come,[e] about which we are speaking,[f] under the control of angels. 6 Instead someone testified somewhere:
“What is man that you think of him[g] or the son of man that you care for him?
7 You made him lower than the angels for a little while.
You crowned him with glory and honor.[h]
8 You put all things under his control.”[i]
For when he put all things under his control, he left nothing outside of his control. At present we do not yet see all things under his control,[j] 9 but we see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while,[k] now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death,[l] so that by God’s grace he would experience[m] death on behalf of everyone.
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