Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
8 The Lord is kind and shows mercy.
He does not become angry quickly but is full of love.
9 The Lord is good to everyone;
he is merciful to all he has made.
10 Lord, everything you have made will praise you;
those who belong to you will bless you.
11 They will tell about the glory of your kingdom
and will speak about your power.
12 Then everyone will know the mighty things you do
and the glory and majesty of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom will go on and on,
and you will rule forever.
The Lord will keep all his promises;
he is loyal to all he has made.
14 The Lord helps those who have been defeated
and takes care of those who are in trouble.
6 “Oh no! Oh no! Run away from Babylon, because I have scattered you like the four winds of heaven,” says the Lord.
7 “Oh no, Jerusalem! Escape, you who live right in Babylon.” 8 This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: “After he has honored me and sent me against the nations who took your possessions—because whoever touches you hurts what is precious to me— 9 I will shake my hand against them so that their slaves will rob them.”
Then you will know that the Lord All-Powerful sent me.
10 “Shout and be glad, Jerusalem. I am coming, and I will live among you,” says the Lord. 11 “At that time people from many nations will join with the Lord and will become my people. Then I will live among you, and you will know that the Lord All-Powerful has sent me to you. 12 The Lord will take Judah as his own part of the holy land, and Jerusalem will be his chosen city again. 13 Be silent, everyone, in the presence of the Lord. He is coming out of the holy place where he lives.”
Our Fight Against Sin
7 You might think I am saying that sin and the law are the same thing. That is not true. But the law was the only way I could learn what sin meant. I would never have known what it means to want to take something belonging to someone else if the law had not said, “You must not want to take your neighbor’s things.”[a] 8 And sin found a way to use that command and cause me to want all kinds of things I should not want. But without the law, sin has no power. 9 I was alive before I knew the law. But when the law’s command came to me, then sin began to live, 10 and I died. The command was meant to bring life, but for me it brought death. 11 Sin found a way to fool me by using the command to make me die.
12 So the law is holy, and the command is holy and right and good. 13 Does this mean that something that is good brought death to me? No! Sin used something that is good to bring death to me. This happened so that I could see what sin is really like; the command was used to show that sin is very evil.
The War Within Us
14 We know that the law is spiritual, but I am not spiritual since sin rules me as if I were its slave. 15 I do not understand the things I do. I do not do what I want to do, and I do the things I hate. 16 And if I do not want to do the hated things I do, that means I agree that the law is good. 17 But I am not really the one who is doing these hated things; it is sin living in me that does them. 18 Yes, I know that nothing good lives in me—I mean nothing good lives in the part of me that is earthly and sinful. I want to do the things that are good, but I do not do them. 19 I do not do the good things I want to do, but I do the bad things I do not want to do. 20 So if I do things I do not want to do, then I am not the one doing them. It is sin living in me that does those things.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.