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Psalm 141

1  O Lord, I call to you; come to me quickly; ♦︎
   hear my voice when I cry to you.
2  Let my prayer rise before you as incense, ♦︎
   the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
3  Set a watch before my mouth, O Lord, ♦︎
   and guard the door of my lips;
4  Let not my heart incline to any evil thing; ♦︎
   let me not be occupied in wickedness with evildoers,
      nor taste the pleasures of their table.
5  Let the righteous smite me in friendly rebuke;
      but let not the oil of the unrighteous anoint my head; ♦︎
   for my prayer is continually against their wicked deeds.
6  Let their rulers be overthrown in stony places; ♦︎
   then they may know that my words are sweet.
7  As when a plough turns over the earth in furrows, ♦︎
   let their bones be scattered at the mouth of the Pit.
8  But my eyes are turned to you, Lord God; ♦︎
   in you I take refuge; do not leave me defenceless.
9  Protect me from the snare which they have laid for me ♦︎
   and from the traps of the evildoers.
10  Let the wicked fall into their own nets, ♦︎
   while I pass by in safety.

Israel Restored to the Land

21 I will display my glory among the nations; and all the nations shall see my judgement that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them. ²²The house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God, from that day forward. ²³And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they dealt treacherously with me. So I hid my face from them and gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword. ²⁴I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their transgressions, and hid my face from them.

25 Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for my holy name. ²⁶They shall forget^* their shame, and all the treachery they have practised against me, when they live securely in their land with no one to make them afraid, ²⁷when I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from their enemies’ lands, and through them have displayed my holiness in the sight of many nations. ²⁸Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God because I sent them into exile among the nations, and then gathered them into their own land. I will leave none of them behind; ²⁹and I will never again hide my face from them, when I pour out my spirit upon the house of Israel, says the Lord God.

The Vision of the New Temple

40In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck down, on that very day, the hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me there. ²He brought me, in visions of God, to the land of Israel, and set me down upon a very high mountain, on which was a structure like a city to the south. ³When he brought me there, a man was there, whose appearance shone like bronze, with a linen cord and a measuring reed in his hand; and he was standing in the gateway. ⁴The man said to me, ‘Mortal, look closely and listen attentively, and set your mind upon all that I shall show you, for you were brought here in order that I might show it to you; declare all that you see to the house of Israel.’

Do All to the Glory of God

23 ‘All things are lawful’, but not all things are beneficial. ‘All things are lawful’, but not all things build up. ²⁴Do not seek your own advantage, but that of others. ²⁵Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience, ²⁶for ‘the earth and its fullness are the Lord’s.’ ²⁷If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. ²⁸But if someone says to you, ‘This has been offered in sacrifice’, then do not eat it, out of consideration for the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— ²⁹I mean the other’s conscience, not your own. For why should my liberty be subject to the judgement of someone else’s conscience? ³⁰If I partake with thankfulness, why should I be denounced because of that for which I give thanks?

31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. ³²Give no offence to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, ³³just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, so that they may be saved. 11¹Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.