Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
ג gimel
17 Be good to your servant so I can go on living
and keeping your word.
18 Open my eyes so I can examine
the wonders of your Instruction!
19 I’m an immigrant in the land.
Don’t hide your commandments from me!
20 I’m worn out by longing
every minute for your rules!
21 You rebuke the arrogant, accursed people
who stray from your commandments.
22 Take all their insults and contempt away from me
because I’ve kept your laws!
23 Even if rulers gather and scheme against me,
your servant will contemplate your statutes!
24 Yes, your laws are my joy—
they are my most trusted advisors!
ד dalet
25 My life is stuck in the dirt.
Now make me live again according to your promise!
26 I confessed my ways and you answered me.
Now teach me your statutes!
27 Help me understand what your precepts are about
so I can contemplate your wondrous works!
28 My spirit sags because of grief.
Now raise me up according to your promise!
29 Remove all false ways from me;
show mercy to me by means of your Instruction.
30 I’ve chosen the way of faithfulness;
I’m set on your rules.
31 I’m holding tight to your laws, Lord.
Please don’t let me be put to shame.
32 I run the same path as your commandments
because you give my heart insight.
13 On that day the beautiful young women and the young men
will faint with thirst.
14 Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria,
and say, “As your god lives, Dan,”
and, “As the way of Beer-sheba lives”—
even they will fall and never rise again.
Description of Israel’s fate
9 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and the Lord said:
Strike the pillars until the foundations shake,
shatter them on the heads of all the people.
With the sword, I will kill the last of them;
not one of them will flee,
not one of them will escape.
2 If they dig through into the underworld,[a]
from there my hand will take them.
If they climb up to the heavens,
from there I will bring them down.
3 If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,
I will search for them there and remove them.
If they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea,
I will give an order to the sea serpent, and it will bite them.
4 If they are forced from their homes before their enemies,
there I will give an order to the sword, and it will kill them.
I will fix my eyes on them
for harm and not for good.
Living in the light
2 My little children, I’m writing these things to you so that you don’t sin. But if you do sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one. 2 He is God’s way of dealing with our sins, not only ours but the sins of the whole world. 3 This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commandments. 4 The one who claims, “I know him,” while not keeping his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in this person. 5 But the love of God is truly perfected in whoever keeps his word. This is how we know we are in him. 6 The one who claims to remain in him ought to live in the same way as he lived.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible