Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
God Saves from Many Dangers
107 Thank the Lord because he is good.
His love continues forever.
2 That is what those whom the Lord has saved should say.
He has saved them from the enemy
3 and has gathered them from other lands,
from east and west, north and south.
33 He changed rivers into a desert
and springs of water into dry ground.
34 He made fertile land salty,
because the people there did evil.
35 He changed the desert into pools of water
and dry ground into springs of water.
36 He had the hungry settle there
so they could build a city in which to live.
37 They planted seeds in the fields and vineyards,
and they had a good harvest.
38 God blessed them, and they grew in number.
Their cattle did not become fewer.
39 Because of disaster, troubles, and sadness,
their families grew smaller and weaker.
40 He showed he was displeased with their leaders
and made them wander in a pathless desert.
41 But he lifted the poor out of their suffering
and made their families grow like flocks of sheep.
42 Good people see this and are happy,
but the wicked say nothing.
43 Whoever is wise will remember these things
and will think about the love of the Lord.
Remember the Lord
8 Carefully obey every command I give you today. Then you will live and grow in number, and you will enter and take the land the Lord promised your ancestors. 2 Remember how the Lord your God has led you in the desert for these forty years, taking away your pride and testing you, because he wanted to know what was in your heart. He wanted to know if you would obey his commands. 3 He took away your pride when he let you get hungry, and then he fed you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had ever seen. This was to teach you that a person does not live on bread alone, but by everything the Lord says. 4 During these forty years, your clothes did not wear out, and your feet did not swell. 5 Know in your heart that the Lord your God corrects you as a parent corrects a child.
6 Obey the commands of the Lord your God, living as he has commanded you and respecting him. 7 The Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with rivers and pools of water, with springs that flow in the valleys and hills, 8 a land that has wheat and barley, vines, fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil, and honey. 9 It is a land where you will have plenty of food, where you will have everything you need, where the rocks are iron, and where you can dig copper out of the hills.
10 When you have all you want to eat, then praise the Lord your God for giving you a good land. 11 Be careful not to forget the Lord your God so that you fail to obey his commands, laws, and rules that I am giving to you today. 12 When you eat all you want and build nice houses and live in them, 13 when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase, when you have more of everything, 14 then your heart will become proud. You will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you were slaves. 15 He led you through the large and terrible desert that was dry and had no water, and that had poisonous snakes and stinging insects. He gave you water from a solid rock 16 and manna to eat in the desert. Manna was something your ancestors had never seen. He did this to take away your pride and to test you, so things would go well for you in the end. 17 You might say to yourself, “I am rich because of my own power and strength,” 18 but remember the Lord your God! It is he who gives you the power to become rich, keeping the agreement he promised to your ancestors, as it is today.
19 If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship them and bow down to them, I warn you today that you will be destroyed. 20 Just as the Lord destroyed the other nations for you, you can be destroyed if you do not obey the Lord your God.
27 Together you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of that body. 28 In the church God has given a place first to apostles, second to prophets, and third to teachers. Then God has given a place to those who do miracles, those who have gifts of healing, those who can help others, those who are able to govern, and those who can speak in different languages.[a] 29 Not all are apostles. Not all are prophets. Not all are teachers. Not all do miracles. 30 Not all have gifts of healing. Not all speak in different languages. Not all interpret those languages. 31 But you should truly want to have the greater gifts.
Love Is the Greatest Gift
And now I will show you the best way of all.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.