Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁷ Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go, get down; for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves! ⁸ They have turned away quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”

⁹ Yahweh said to Moses, “I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people. ¹⁰ Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation.”

¹¹ Moses begged Yahweh his God, and said, “Yahweh, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, that you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? ¹² Why should the Egyptians talk, saying, ‘He brought them out for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath, and turn away from this evil against your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring^[a] as the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’”

¹⁴ So Yahweh turned away from the evil which he said he would do to his people.

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

¹² I thank him who enabled me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he counted me faithful, appointing me to service, ¹³ although I used to be a blasphemer, a persecutor, and insolent. However, I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. ¹⁴ The grace of our Lord abounded exceedingly with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ The saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. ¹⁶ However, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first, Jesus Christ might display all his patience for an example of those who were going to believe in him for eternal life. ¹⁷ Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

15 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming close to him to hear him. ² The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.”

³ He told them this parable: ⁴ “Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that was lost, until he found it? ⁵ When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶ When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ ⁷ I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.

⁸ “Or what woman, if she had ten drachma^[a] coins, if she lost one drachma coin, wouldn’t light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek diligently until she found it? ⁹ When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost!’ ¹⁰ Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting.”