Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
40 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David:
2 (1) I waited patiently for Adonai,
till he turned toward me and heard my cry.
3 (2) He brought me up from the roaring pit,
up from the muddy ooze,
and set my feet on a rock,
making my footing firm.
4 (3) He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will look on in awe
and put their trust in Adonai.
5 (4) How blessed the man who trusts in Adonai
and does not look to the arrogant
or to those who rely on things that are false.
6 (5) How much you have done, Adonai my God!
Your wonders and your thoughts toward us —
none can compare with you!
I would proclaim them, I would speak about them;
but there’s too much to tell!
7 (6) Sacrifices and grain offerings you don’t want;
burnt offerings and sin offerings you don’t demand.
Instead, you have given me open ears;
8 (7) so then I said, “Here I am! I’m coming!
In the scroll of a book it is written about me.
9 (8) Doing your will, my God, is my joy;
your Torah is in my inmost being.
10 (9) I have proclaimed what is right in the great assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, Adonai, as you know.
11 (10) I did not hide your righteousness in my heart
but declared your faithfulness and salvation;
I did not conceal your grace and truth
from the great assembly.”
15 Thus says Adonai Elohim-Tzva’ot: “Go and find that steward, Shevna, administrator of the palace, and ask him:
16 ‘What do you own here,
and who gave you the right
to cut yourself a tomb here?
Why do you get such an eminent tomb?
Why are you carving a resting-place
for yourself in the rock?’”
17 Look, strong man! Adonai is about
to throw you out! He will grab you,
18 roll you up, and toss you around
like a ball in the open country.
There you will die, with your fancy chariots,
you disgrace to your master’s palace!
19 “I will remove you from your office,
I will snatch you from your post.
20 When that day comes, I will summon
my servant Elyakim the son of Hilkiyahu.
21 I will dress him in your robe,
gird him with your sash of office,
and invest him with your authority.
He will be a father to the people
living in Yerushalayim
and to the house of Y’hudah.
22 I will place the key of David’s house
on his shoulder;
no one will shut what he opens;
no one will open what he shuts.
23 “I will fasten him firmly in place like a peg, so that he will become a seat of honor for his clan. 24 They will hang on him all the weight of his clan, descendants and offspring, as well as all the vessels of small capacity, from pitchers to cups. 25 When that day comes, the peg fastened firmly in place will give way; it will be cut down and fall, and the weight that was on it will be cut off.” For Adonai has said it.
6 I am astounded that you are so quick to remove yourselves from me, the one who called you by the Messiah’s grace, and turn to some other supposedly “Good News,” 7 which is not good news at all! What is really happening is that certain people are pestering you and trying to pervert the genuine Good News of the Messiah. 8 But even if we — or, for that matter, an angel from heaven! — were to announce to you some so-called “Good News” contrary to the Good News we did announce to you, let him be under a curse forever! 9 We said it before, and I say it again: if anyone announces “Good News” contrary to what you received, let him be under a curse forever!
10 Now does that sound as if I were trying to win human approval? No! I want God’s approval! Or that I’m trying to cater to people? If I were still doing that, I would not be a servant of the Messiah.
11 Furthermore, let me make clear to you, brothers, that the Good News as I proclaim it is not a human product; 12 because neither did I receive it from someone else nor was I taught it — it came through a direct revelation from Yeshua the Messiah.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.