Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
TZADHE צ
137 Righteous are You, Adonai,
and Your judgments are upright.
138 You have commanded righteousness,
Your testimonies, and great faithfulness.
139 My zeal has consumed me,
because my foes forgot Your words.
140 Your word is thoroughly refined,
and Your servant loves it.
141 I am insignificant and despised,
yet I have not forgotten Your precepts.
142 Your justice is righteousness forever,
and Your Torah is truth.
143 Trouble and anguish have overtaken me,
yet Your mitzvot are my delight.
144 Your testimonies are righteous forever
—make me understand, so I may live.
Adonai’s Answer: Chaldeans
5 “Look among the nations! Observe!
Astonish yourself! Be astounded!
For a work is being done in your days.
You will not believe it if it were told.[a]
6 For I am about to raise up the Chaldeans,
that bitter, impetuous nation,
marching all over the land,
to seize dwellings not its own.
7 Dreadful and terrifying,
Its justice and dignity derive from itself.
8 Its horses are swifter than leopards,
fiercer than wolves at dusk.
Its horsemen come galloping.
Its horsemen are coming from afar.
They fly like a vulture,[b] swooping down to eat.
9 All of them come for violence—
an assembling of faces to the east.
He gathers captives like sand.
10 He scoffs at kings,
and rulers are a joke to him.
He laughs at every stronghold—
he heaps up dirt and takes it.
11 Then a wind sweeps through and passes on.
He is guilty—This, his strength, is his god.”
Appeal for Justice on Chaldea
12 Are not You from antiquity—
Adonai my God, my Holy One?
We will not die.
Adonai, You have ordained him for judgment—
as You, O Rock, have established him to chasten.
13 With eyes too pure to see evil
You cannot look at such trouble!
Why do You look at the treacherous?
Why do You remain silent when a wicked one
swallows up those more righteous than him?
14 You made man like the fish of the sea,
like a creeping thing—with no one ruling over him.
15 He brings up all with hook in jaw,
drags away in his dragnet,
or gathers with his fishing-net.
Therefore he rejoices with glee.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his dragnet,
and offers incense to his fishing-net.
For through them his portion is rich
and his food abundant.
17 Will he empty his net for this reason
—continually slaying nations—with no compassion?
Greetings
1 Simon Peter, a slave and emissary of Messiah Yeshua,
To those who have received a faith equal to ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior, Messiah Yeshua:
2 May grace and shalom be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Yeshua our Lord.
Qualities for Living Forever
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and virtue. 4 Through these things He has given us His precious and magnificent promises,[a] so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, since you have escaped the corruption that evil desires have brought into the world. 5 Now for this very reason, making every effort, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, patience; and to patience, godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly love; and to brotherly love, love. [b] 8 For if these qualities are in you and increasing, they keep you from becoming idle and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. 9 But anyone who lacks these qualities is blind—nearsighted because he has forgotten his cleansing from past sins. 10 Therefore, brothers and sisters, make all the more effort to make your calling and election certain—for if you keep doing these things, you will never stumble. 11 For in this way entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Messiah Yeshua, will be richly provided for you.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.