Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

כ Kaph.

⁸ But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that which I give thee. ⁹ And when I looked, behold, a hand was put forth unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; ¹⁰ and he spread it before me: and it was written within and without; and there were written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe. 3 ¹ And he said unto me, Son of man, eat that which thou findest; eat this roll, and go, speak unto the house of Israel. ² So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat the roll. ³ And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.

⁴ And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them. ⁵ For thou art not sent to a people ^[a]of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel; ⁶ not to many peoples ^[b]of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, if I sent thee to them, they would hearken unto thee. ⁷ But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are of a hard forehead and of a stiff heart. ⁸ Behold, I have made thy face hard against their faces, and thy forehead hard against their foreheads. ⁹ As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house. ¹⁰ Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thy heart, and hear with thine ears. ¹¹ And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.

¹⁶ I say again, Let no man think me foolish; but if ye do, yet as foolish receive me, that I also may glory a little. ¹⁷ That which I speak, I speak not after the Lord, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of glorying. ¹⁸ Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also. ¹⁹ For ye bear with the foolish gladly, being wise yourselves. ²⁰ For ye bear with a man, if he bringeth you into bondage, if he devoureth you, if he taketh you captive, if he exalteth himself, if he smiteth you on the face. ²¹ I speak by way of disparagement, as though we had been weak. Yet whereinsoever any is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am bold also. ²² Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. ²³ Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I more; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft. ²⁴ Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. ²⁵ Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep; ²⁶ in journeyings often, in perils of rivers, in perils of robbers, in perils from my ^[a]countrymen, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; ²⁷ in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. ^28 [b]Besides those things that are without, there is that which presseth upon me daily, anxiety for all the churches. ²⁹ Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is caused to stumble, and I burn not? ³⁰ If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my weakness. ^31 [c]The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed ^[d]for evermore knoweth that I lie not. ³² In Damascus the ^[e]governor under Aretas the king guarded the city of the Damascenes in order to take me: ³³ and through a window was I let down in a basket by the wall, and escaped his hands.