Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Prayer for Forgiveness
For the director of music. A psalm of David when the prophet Nathan came to David after David’s sin with Bathsheba.
51 God, be merciful to me
because you are loving.
Because you are always ready to be merciful,
wipe out all my wrongs.
2 Wash away all my guilt
and make me clean again.
3 I know about my wrongs,
and I can’t forget my sin.
4 You are the only one I have sinned against;
I have done what you say is wrong.
You are right when you speak
and fair when you judge.
5 I was brought into this world in sin.
In sin my mother gave birth to me.
6 You want me to be completely truthful,
so teach me wisdom.
7 Take away my sin, and I will be clean.
Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Make me hear sounds of joy and gladness;
let the bones you crushed be happy again.
9 Turn your face from my sins
and wipe out all my guilt.
10 Create in me a pure heart, God,
and make my spirit right again.
The Human Race Becomes Evil
6 The number of people on earth began to grow, and daughters were born to them. 2 When the sons of God saw that these girls were beautiful, they married any of them they chose. 3 The Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain in human beings forever, because they are flesh. They will live only 120 years.”
4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also later. That was when the sons of God had sexual relations with the daughters of human beings. These women gave birth to children, who became famous and were the mighty warriors of long ago.
5 The Lord saw that the human beings on the earth were very wicked and that everything they thought about was evil. 6 He was sorry he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.
1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the command of God our Savior and Christ Jesus our hope.
2 To Timothy, a true child to me because you believe:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Warning Against False Teaching
3 I asked you to stay longer in Ephesus when I went into Macedonia so you could command some people there to stop teaching false things. 4 Tell them not to spend their time on stories that are not true and on long lists of names in family histories. These things only bring arguments; they do not help God’s work, which is done in faith. 5 The purpose of this command is for people to have love, a love that comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a true faith. 6 Some people have missed these things and turned to useless talk. 7 They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not understand either what they are talking about or what they are sure about.
8 But we know that the law is good if someone uses it lawfully. 9 We also know that the law is not made for good people but for those who are against the law and for those who refuse to follow it. It is for people who are against God and are sinful, who are unholy and ungodly, who kill their fathers and mothers, who murder, 10 who take part in sexual sins, who have sexual relations with people of the same sex, who sell slaves, who tell lies, who speak falsely, and who do anything against the true teaching of God. 11 That teaching is part of the Good News of the blessed God that he gave me to tell.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.