Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

TSADHE

⁵ Wine will destroy that proud enemy.^[a] They do not stop attacking other people. They never have enough for themselves. They are like death that is so hungry that it eats as much as it can. The deep hole of death eats everything. The cruel enemy is like that! They want all the nations to belong to them. They catch everyone to be their prisoners.

⁶ But one day, their prisoners will laugh at them. The people will insult that proud nation with songs and proverbs. They will say, “You have stored for yourselves many valuable things that do not belong to you. It will be very bad for you! You have robbed other nations so that you can be rich. This will not continue much longer!”

⁷ The people that have lent their riches to you will suddenly attack. They will come to take back their things and you will be very afraid. Now they will come to rob you! ⁸ You have robbed many nations. You have murdered people in many lands. You have destroyed towns and the people who live in them. Now the people who remain will come to rob you.

⁹ It will be very bad for anyone who cheats other people so that he can make his family rich. He thinks that his riches will make him safe. He thinks that he is too high up for any trouble to reach him. ¹⁰ But the cruel things that you have done will bring shame to your family. You decided to destroy people from many countries. Because of that, you will pay with your own life. ¹¹ The stones in the walls of your houses will cry out against you. The beams in your roof will also shout aloud.

³⁹ They answered, ‘Abraham is our father!’ Jesus replied, ‘If you really belonged to Abraham's family, you would do the same kind of things that Abraham did. ⁴⁰ I have told you the true message that I have heard from God. But you want to kill me. Abraham did not do anything like that! ⁴¹ You do the same things that your own father does.’

They said to Jesus, ‘God himself is our only Father, and we are his proper sons!’

⁴² Jesus said to them, ‘If God was your Father, you would love me. I came from God and now I am here with you. I did not come on my own behalf, but God sent me. ⁴³ Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot really accept my message. ⁴⁴ You belong to your father, the Devil, and you want to do the things that he wants. From the beginning, he has been someone who murders people. He refuses to accept the truth, because there is nothing true in him. When he tells lies, he is showing what he is really like. He always tells lies. He is the father of all lies. ⁴⁵ As for me, I tell you what is true. And that is why you do not believe me. ⁴⁶ None of you can show that I have done anything wrong. You should believe me, because I am telling you God's true message. ⁴⁷ Someone who belongs to God accepts God's message. But you do not belong to God. That is why you do not accept his message.’