Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
(By David.)
The Lord's Wonderful Love
1 With all my heart
I praise the Lord,
and with all that I am
I praise his holy name!
2 With all my heart
I praise the Lord!
I will never forget
how kind he has been.
3 The Lord forgives our sins,
heals us when we are sick,
4 and protects us from death.
His kindness and love
are a crown on our heads.
5 Each day that we live,[a]
he provides for our needs
and gives us the strength
of a young eagle.
6 For all who are mistreated,
the Lord brings justice.
7 He taught his Law to Moses
and showed all Israel
what he could do.
8 (A) The Lord is merciful!
He is kind and patient,
and his love never fails.
The Sabbath
15 (A) I also noticed what the people of Judah were doing on the Sabbath. Not only were they trampling grapes to make wine, but they were harvesting their grain, grapes, figs, and other crops, and then loading these on donkeys to sell in Jerusalem. So I warned them not to sell food on the Sabbath. 16 People who had moved to Jerusalem from the city of Tyre were bringing in fish and other things to sell there on the Sabbath. 17 I got angry and said to the leaders of Judah, “This evil you are doing is an insult to the Sabbath! 18 Didn't God punish us and this city because our ancestors did these very same things? And here you are, about to make God furious again by disgracing the Sabbath!”
19 I ordered the gates of Jerusalem to be closed on the eve of the Sabbath[a] and not to be opened until after the Sabbath had ended. Then I put some of my own men in charge of the gates to make certain that nothing was brought in on the Sabbath. 20 Once or twice some merchants spent the night outside Jerusalem with their goods. 21 But I warned them, “If you do this again, I'll have you arrested.” From then on, they did not come on the Sabbath. 22 I ordered the Levites to make themselves holy and to guard the gates on the Sabbath, so that it would be kept holy.
God is truly merciful, and I pray that he will treat me with kindness and bless me for doing this.
A Question about the Sabbath
(Matthew 12.1-8; Mark 2.23-28)
6 (A) One Sabbath when Jesus and his disciples were walking through some wheat fields,[a] the disciples picked some wheat. They rubbed the husks off with their hands and started eating the grain.
2 Some Pharisees said, “Why are you picking grain on the Sabbath? You're not supposed to do that!”
3 (B) Jesus answered, “You surely have read what David did when he and his followers were hungry. 4 (C) He went into the house of God and took the sacred loaves of bread that only priests were supposed to eat. He not only ate some himself, but even gave some to his followers.”
5 Jesus finished by saying, “The Son of Man is Lord over the Sabbath.”
Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society For more information about CEV, visit www.bibles.com and www.cev.bible.