Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Tsadhe
137 You are good and just, O Eternal One,
and Your rulings are right.
138 You have set out Your decrees in justice,
and they can be trusted.
139 I am overwhelmed by my passion
because my enemies have forgotten Your words.
140 Your promise is tested and true;
that’s why Your servant loves it.
141 I may be insignificant to some and hated by others,
but at least I do not forget Your precepts.
142 Your righteousness will last forever,
and Your law is truth.
143 Trouble and distress have overtaken me,
but Your commandments bring me great joy.
144 Your decrees are right and true forever;
grant me understanding so that I may live.
5 Indeed, wine betrays the proud man who is always restless.
He has a big appetite; it is like the deep, dark pit of the dead.
Like death, he is never satisfied.
He gathers all the nations to himself and collects all the people for his own purposes.
6 Will not all these nations raise up their litany of insults?
Will they not provoke him with their taunts and mockery, saying,
“Woe to him who hoards what is not his!
How long can he profit from extortion and debt?”
7 Will not your creditors suddenly rise up against you?
One day they will wake up and will have had enough.
Indeed, you will be their spoil!
8 Why? Because you have plundered many nations,
now all who remain will come and plunder you—
Because you have made bloody and violent raids over the earth
and ransacked many peoples and their villages.
9 Woe to him who builds his house on such evil profits,
who puts his nest up high, safe for the future, safe from disaster!
10 You don’t realize it, but by cutting down so many peoples,
you have brought shame on your house;
You have sinned against your own soul.
11 For the stone in the wall will cry out against you;
the wooden rafter[a] will answer from the ceiling.
Jews: 39 Abraham is our father.
Jesus: If you are truly Abraham’s children, then act like Abraham! 40 From what I see you are trying to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth that comes from the Father. This is not something Abraham would do, 41 but you are doing what you have learned from your father.
Jews: We were not born from adulterous parents; we have one Father: God.
Jesus: 42 I come from the one True God, and I’m not here on My own. He sent Me on a mission. If God were your Father, you would know that and would love Me. 43 You don’t even understand what I’m saying. Do you? Why not? It is because You cannot stand to hear My voice. 44 You are just like your true father, the devil; and you spend your time pursuing the things your father loves. He started out as a killer, and he cannot tolerate truth because he is void of anything true. At the core of his character, he is a liar; everything he speaks originates in these lies because he is the father of lies. 45 So when I speak truth, you don’t believe Me. 46-47 If I speak the truth, why don’t you believe Me? If you belong to God’s family, then why can’t you hear God speak? The answer is clear; you are not in God’s family. I speak truth, and you don’t believe Me. Can any of you convict Me of sin?
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.