Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Praise for the Lord’s Kindness
113 Praise the Lord!
Praise him, you servants of the Lord;
praise the name of the Lord.
2 The Lord’s name should be praised
now and forever.
3 The Lord’s name should be praised
from where the sun rises to where it sets.
4 The Lord is supreme over all the nations;
his glory reaches to the skies.
5 No one is like the Lord our God,
who rules from heaven,
6 who bends down to look
at the skies and the earth.
7 The Lord lifts the poor from the dirt
and takes the helpless from the ashes.
8 He seats them with princes,
the princes of his people.
9 He gives children to the woman who has none
and makes her a happy mother.
Praise the Lord!
Laws About Fairness
23 “You must not tell lies. If you are a witness in court, don’t help a wicked person by telling lies.
2 “You must not do wrong just because everyone else is doing it. If you are a witness in court, you must not ruin a fair trial. You must not tell lies just because everyone else is. 3 If a poor person is in court, you must not take his side just because he is poor.
4 “If you see your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering away, you must return it to him. 5 If you see that your enemy’s donkey has fallen because its load is too heavy, do not leave it there. You must help your enemy get the donkey back on its feet.
6 “You must not be unfair to a poor person when he is in court. 7 You must not lie when you accuse someone in court. Never allow an innocent or honest person to be put to death as punishment, because I will not treat guilty people as if they were innocent.
8 “You must not accept money from a person who wants you to lie in court, because such money will not let you see what is right. Such money makes good people tell lies.
9 “You must not mistreat a foreigner. You know how it feels to be a foreigner, because you were foreigners in Egypt.
3 So, do Jews have anything that other people do not have? Is there anything special about being circumcised? 2 Yes, of course, there is in every way. The most important thing is this: God trusted the Jews with his teachings. 3 If some Jews were not faithful to him, will that stop God from doing what he promised? 4 No! God will continue to be true even when every person is false. As the Scriptures say:
“So you will be shown to be right when you speak,
and you will win your case.” Psalm 51:4
5 When we do wrong, that shows more clearly that God is right. So can we say that God is wrong to punish us? (I am talking as people might talk.) 6 No! If God could not punish us, he could not judge the world.
7 A person might say, “When I lie, it really gives him glory, because my lie shows God’s truth. So why am I judged a sinner?” 8 It would be the same to say, “We should do evil so that good will come.” Some people find fault with us and say we teach this, but they are wrong and deserve the punishment they will receive.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.