Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁸ “And I said to ^(A)their children in the wilderness, ‘Do not walk ^(B)in the statutes of your fathers, nor keep their rules, ^(C)nor defile yourselves with their idols. ^19 (D)I am the Lord your God; ^(E)walk in my statutes, and be careful to obey my rules, ²⁰ and ^(F)keep my Sabbaths holy that ^(G)they may be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.’ ^21 (H)But the children ^(I)rebelled against me. ^(J)They did not walk in my statutes and were not careful to obey my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live; they profaned my Sabbaths.

^(K)“Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the wilderness. ^22 (L)But I withheld my hand ^(M)and acted for the sake of my name, ^(N)that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out. ^23 (O)Moreover, ^(P)I swore to them in the wilderness ^(Q)that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the countries, ²⁴ because they had not obeyed my rules, but had rejected my statutes and profaned my Sabbaths, ^(R)and their eyes were set on their fathers' idols. ^25 (S)Moreover, I gave them statutes that were not good and rules by which they could not have life, ²⁶ and I defiled them through ^(T)their very gifts ^(U)in their offering up all their firstborn, that I might devastate them. I did it ^(V)that they might know that I am the Lord.

²⁷ “Therefore, ^(W)son of man, speak to the house of Israel and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: In this also your fathers blasphemed me, by ^(X)dealing treacherously with me. ²⁸ For when I had brought them into the land that ^(Y)I swore to give them, then wherever they saw ^(Z)any high hill or any leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices and there they presented ^(AA)the provocation of their offering; there they sent up their pleasing aromas, and there they poured out their drink offerings. ²⁹ (I said to them, ^(AB)‘What is the high place to which you go?’ So its name is called Bamah^[a] to this day.)

³⁰ “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: ^(AC)Will you defile yourselves after the manner of your fathers and go ^(AD)whoring after their detestable things? ³¹ When you present your gifts and ^(AE)offer up your children in fire,^[b] you defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. And ^(AF)shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? ^(AG)As I live, declares the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.

^32 (AH)“What is in your mind shall never happen—the thought, ^(AI)‘Let us be like the nations, like the tribes of the countries, ^(AJ)and worship wood and stone.’

To the Church in Philadelphia

⁷ “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of ^(A)the holy one, ^(B)the true one, ^(C)who has the key of David, ^(D)who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.

⁸ “‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you ^(E)an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. ⁹ Behold, I will make those of ^(F)the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, ^(G)I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that ^(H)I have loved you. ^10 (I)Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try ^(J)those who dwell on the earth. ^11 (K)I am coming soon. ^(L)Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize ^(M)your crown. ^12 (N)The one who conquers, I will make him ^(O)a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him ^(P)the name of my God, and ^(Q)the name of the city of my God, ^(R)the new Jerusalem, ^(S)which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own ^(T)new name. ^13 (U)He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’