Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer for Safety
A maskil of David when he was in the cave. A prayer.
142 I cry out to the Lord.
I pray to the Lord for mercy.
2 I pour out my problems to him.
I tell him my troubles.
3 When I am afraid,
you, Lord, know the way out.
In the path where I walk,
a trap is hidden for me.
4 Look around me and see.
No one cares about me.
I have no place of safety.
No one cares if I live.
5 Lord, I cry out to you.
I say, “You are my protection.
You are all I want in this life.”
6 Listen to my cry
because I am helpless.
Save me from those who are chasing me.
They are too strong for me.
7 Free me from my prison.
Then I will praise your name.
Then the good people will surround me
because you have taken care of me.
The Nations Will Be Judged
15 “The Lord’s day of judging is coming soon
to all the nations.
You did evil things to other people.
Those same things will happen to you.
They will come back upon your own head.
16 Because you joined the nations in robbing my Temple,
you drank my anger.
So all the nations will drink my anger.
They will be punished so much that they will disappear.
17 But on Mount Zion some will be left alive.
The mountain will be a holy place.
The people of Jacob will take back their land.
They will take it from those who took it from them.
18 The people of Jacob, the Israelites, will be like a fire.
And the people of Joseph will be like a flame.
But the people of Esau, the Edomites, will be like dry stalks.
The people of Jacob will set these stalks on fire.
They will burn up the Edomites.
Then there will be no one left of the people of Esau.”
This will happen because the Lord has said it.
19 Then God’s people will regain southern Judah from Edom,
the mountain of Esau.
They will take back the western mountain slopes
from the Philistines.
They will regain the lands of Ephraim and Samaria.
And Benjamin will take over Gilead.
20 People from Israel once were forced to leave their homes.
But at that time they will take the land of the Canaanites.
They will take it all the way to Zarephath.
People from Judah were once forced to leave Jerusalem
and live in Sepharad.
But at that time they will take back
the cities of southern Judah.
21 Powerful warriors will go up on Mount Zion.
There they will rule the people living on Edom’s mountain.
And the kingdom will belong to the Lord.
Why Jesus Used Stories to Teach
10 The followers came to Jesus and asked, “Why do you use stories to teach the people?”
11 Jesus answered, “Only you can know the secret truths about the kingdom of heaven. Other people cannot know these secret truths. 12 The person who has something will be given more. And he will have all he needs. But the person who does not have much, even what he has will be taken from him. 13 This is why I use stories to teach the people: They see, but they don’t really see. They hear, but they don’t really understand. 14 So they show that the things Isaiah said about them are true:
‘You will listen and listen, but you will not understand.
You will look and look, but you will not learn.
15 For these people have become stubborn.
They do not hear with their ears.
And they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might really understand
what they see with their eyes
and hear with their ears.
They might really understand in their minds.
If they did this, they would come back to me and be forgiven.’ Isaiah 6:9-10
16 But you are blessed. You understand the things you see with your eyes. And you understand the things you hear with your ears. 17 I tell you the truth. Many prophets and good people wanted to see the things that you now see. But they did not see them. And many prophets and good people wanted to hear the things that you now hear. But they did not hear them.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.