Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
97 [a]I truly love your law.
It is my meditation throughout the day.
98 [b]Your precept has given me greater wisdom than my enemies,
for it is mine forever.
99 I am wiser than all my teachers
because I meditate on your commands.
100 I have greater insight than the elders,[c]
because I keep your commandments.
101 I point my feet away from evil paths
so that I might observe your word.
102 I refuse to ignore your judgments,
for it is you yourself who have taught me.
103 Your words are sweet to my palate,
even sweeter to my tongue than honey.[d]
104 Through your commandments I achieve wisdom;
therefore, I hate every way that is false.
Nun
Chapter 9
Confession of the People. 1 On the twenty-fourth day of this month, the Israelites, wearing sackcloth and with their heads covered with dust, assembled together for a fast. 2 Then those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners, after which they stood up and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors.[a]
3 They next stood in their places and read from the book of the law of the Lord, their God, for a fourth part of the day, after which they spent another quarter of the day in confessing their sins and worshiping the Lord, their God. 4 Standing on the platform of the Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and they cried aloud to the Lord, their God.
5 Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said:
“Stand up and bless the Lord, your God
from everlasting to everlasting.
And blessed is your glorious name
that is exalted above all blessing and praise.”
6 Then Ezra said:
“You alone are the Lord:
you have created the heavens,
the highest heavens with all their host,
the earth and all that is upon it,
the seas and all that is in them.
To all of them you gave life,
and the hosts of heaven worship you.
7 “You are the Lord,
the God who chose Abram,
who brought him out from Ur of the Chaldeans
and changed his name to Abraham.
8 Finding that his heart was faithful,
you made a covenant with him
to give to his descendants
the land of the Canaanites,
Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites,
Jebusites, and Girgashites.
The promises of yours you fulfilled,
for you are just.
9 “You beheld the misery of our ancestors in Egypt
and heard their cry at the Red Sea.
10 “You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh,
against all his servants and the people of his land.
Because you knew of the great arrogance
with which they treated our forefathers,
and you won renown for yourself
that has lasted even to this very day.
11 “You divided the sea before them,
and they passed through the sea on dry ground.
However, their pursuers you hurled into the depths
like a stone cast into turbulent waters.
12 By a pillar of cloud you led them by day,
and by a pillar of fire during the night,
to light the way ahead of them
along which they were to follow.
13 “You came down on Mount Sinai
and spoke with them from heaven.
You gave them regulations and laws
that are just and right,
statutes and commandments that are good.
14 You made known to them your holy sabbath,
and through your servant Moses
you gave them commandments, statutes, and laws.
15 “You gave them bread from heaven
to ease their hunger,
and you brought forth water from a rock
to quench their thirst.
You also told them to enter
and take possession of the land
which you had solemnly sworn to give them.
Christ and Christian Spouses[a]
Be Subject to One Another in Christ. Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the Church, the body of which he is the Savior. 24 Just as the Church is subject to Christ, so also wives must be subject to their husbands in everything.25 Love One Another in Christ. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her 26 in order to sanctify her by cleansing her with water and the word,[b] 27 in order to present the Church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such flaw, but holy and without the slightest blemish.
28 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. The man who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hates his own body; rather, he nourishes it and cares for it, even as Christ does for the Church, 30 because we are members of his body.
31 For this reason
a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.
32 This is a great mystery. Here I am applying it to Christ and the Church. 33 However, each one of you should love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife should respect her husband.
Chapter 6
Christ and the Members of the Household[c]
Children and Parents. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for it is only right that you should do so. 2 “Honor your father and your mother.” This is the first commandment that is connected with a promise: 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life on earth.”4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Slaves and Masters. 5 Slaves, be constant in your unwavering obedience to your earthly masters with fear and trembling and with the same heartfelt sincerity that you show to Christ. 6 Do this not just when they are watching you, as if you only had to please human beings, but as slaves of Christ, wholeheartedly carrying out the will of God. 7 Do your work willingly, as for the Lord and not for human beings, 8 knowing that whatever good we may do, whether as slaves or as free men, we will be repaid by the Lord.
9 And masters, treat your slaves fairly. Stop threatening them. Remember that both of you have the same Master in heaven, and he shows no favoritism.
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