Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Difference between Good and Sinful People

1 Happy is the man who does not walk in the way sinful men tell him to, or stand in the path of sinners, or sit with those who laugh at the truth. ² But he finds joy in the Law of the Lord and thinks about His Law day and night. ³ This man is like a tree planted by rivers of water, which gives its fruit at the right time and its leaf never dries up. Whatever he does will work out well for him.

⁴ Sinful men are not like this. They are like straw blown away by the wind. ⁵ So the sinful will not stand. They will be told they are guilty and have to suffer for it. Sinners will not stand with those who are right with God. ⁶ For the Lord knows the way of those who are right with Him. But the way of the sinful will be lost from God forever.

² Moses called all Israel and said to them, “You have seen all the Lord did in front of you in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land. ³ You have seen great tests and powerful works. ⁴ Yet to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to know, or eyes to see, or ears to hear. ⁵ I have led you forty years in the desert. Your clothes did not wear out. And your shoes did not wear out on your feet. ⁶ You did not eat bread, or drink wine or strong drink, so you might know that I am the Lord your God. ⁷ When you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came to meet us to fight. But we won the fight. ⁸ We took their land and gave it as a gift to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half family group of Manasseh. ⁹ So be careful to keep the words of this agreement and obey them so all that you do will go well.

¹⁰ “Today you all stand before the Lord your God, you, your rulers, your families, your leaders, all the men of Israel, ¹¹ your children, your wives, the stranger who is among your tents, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who gets your water. ¹² You are here to take part in the agreement with the Lord your God, and in His promise which the Lord your God is making with you today. ¹³ So today He will make you His people. He will be your God, just as He told you and as He promised your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

¹⁴ “I am not making this agreement and this promise with you alone. ¹⁵ I am making them with those who stand here with us today before the Lord our God, and with those who are not here with us today. ¹⁶ You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we passed through the land of the nations on our way here. ¹⁷ You have seen their sinful things and their gods of wood, stone, silver and gold, which they had with them. ¹⁸ Be careful not to have any man or woman or family or group among you whose heart turns away from the Lord our God today to go and worship the gods of those nations. Do not let there be a root among you giving poison fruit and bad-tasting plants. ¹⁹ When one hears the words of this curse, he will say in his pride, ‘I have peace even though I am strong-willed in my heart.’ This will destroy the land that is watered along with the dry land. ²⁰ The Lord will never be willing to forgive him. But the Lord will be jealous and His anger will burn against that man. Every curse written in this book will be upon him. And the Lord will take out his name from under heaven.

³⁴ “Do not think I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵ I came to turn a man against his father. I came to turn a daughter against her mother. I came to turn a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. ³⁶ A man will be hated by his own family.

Giving Up Things of This Earth ^(A)

³⁷ “He who loves his father and mother more than Me is not good enough for Me. He who loves son or daughter more than Me is not good enough for Me. ³⁸ He who does not take his cross and follow Me is not good enough for Me. ³⁹ He who wants to keep his life will have it taken away from him. He who loses his life because of Me will have it given back to him.

⁴⁰ “Whoever receives you, receives Me. Whoever receives Me, receives Him Who sent Me. ⁴¹ Whoever receives a preacher who speaks for God because he is a preacher, will get the reward of a preacher who speaks for God. Whoever receives a man right with God, because he is a man right with God, will get the reward of a man right with God. ⁴² For sure, I tell you, anyone who gives a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he follows Me, will not lose his reward.”