Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Kaph
81 My soul longs for your salvation;
I put my hope in your word.(A)
82 My eyes long to see your promise.(B)
When will you comfort me?
83 I am like a wineskin shriveled by smoke,(C)
but I have not forgotten your statutes.
84 How long can your servant survive?
When will your judgment doom my foes?
85 The arrogant have dug pits for me;
defying your law.
86 All your commandments are steadfast.
Help me! I am pursued without cause.
87 They have almost put an end to me on earth,
but I do not forsake your precepts.
88 In your mercy give me life,
to observe the testimonies of your mouth.
8 But you, son of man, hear me when I speak to you and do not rebel like this rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.(A)
9 (B)It was then I saw a hand stretched out to me; in it was a written scroll. 10 He unrolled it before me; it was covered with writing front and back. Written on it was: Lamentation, wailing, woe!(C)
Chapter 3
1 He said to me: Son of man, eat what you find here: eat this scroll, then go, speak to the house of Israel. 2 So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. 3 (D)Son of man, he said to me, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving you. I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey[a] in my mouth. 4 Then he said to me, Son of man, go now to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them.
5 Not to a people with obscure speech and difficult language am I sending you, but to the house of Israel.(E) 6 Nor to many nations of obscure speech and difficult language whose words you cannot understand. For if I were to send you to these, they would listen to you.(F) 7 But the house of Israel will refuse to listen to you, since they refuse to listen to me. For the whole house of Israel is stubborn of brow and hard of heart.(G) 8 [b]Look! I make your face as hard as theirs, and your brow as stubborn as theirs.(H) 9 Like diamond, harder than flint, I make your brow. Do not be afraid of them, or be terrified by their looks, for they are a rebellious house.(I)
10 Then he said to me, Son of man, take into your heart all my words that I speak to you; hear them well. 11 Now go to the exiles, to your own people, and speak to them. Say to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear: Thus says the Lord God!
Paul’s Boast: His Labors. 16 [a]I repeat, no one should consider me foolish;[b] but if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.[c] 17 What I am saying I am not saying according to the Lord but as in foolishness, in this boastful state. 18 Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. 19 For you gladly put up with fools, since you are wise yourselves. 20 [d]For you put up with it if someone enslaves you, or devours you, or gets the better of you, or puts on airs, or slaps you in the face. 21 To my shame I say that we were too weak![e]
But what anyone dares to boast of (I am speaking in foolishness) I also dare. 22 [f]Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.(A) 23 [g]Are they ministers of Christ? (I am talking like an insane person.)(B) I am still more,[h] with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, far worse beatings, and numerous brushes with death. 24 Five times at the hands of the Jews I received forty lashes minus one.(C) 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I passed a night and a day on the deep;(D) 26 on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and thirst, through frequent fastings, through cold and exposure.(E) 28 And apart from these things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led to sin, and I am not indignant?(F)
Paul’s Boast: His Weakness.[i] 30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 31 [j]The God and Father of the Lord Jesus knows, he who is blessed forever, that I do not lie. 32 At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas guarded the city of Damascus, in order to seize me, 33 but I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.(G)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.