Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁶⁵ You have done good to Your servant, O Lord, because of Your Word. ⁶⁶ Teach me what I should know to be right and fair for I believe in Your Law. ⁶⁷ Before I suffered I went the wrong way, but now I obey Your Word. ⁶⁸ You are good and You do good. Teach me Your Law. ⁶⁹ The proud have put together a lie against me. I will keep Your Law with all my heart. ⁷⁰ Their heart is covered with fat, but I find joy in Your Law. ⁷¹ It is good for me that I was troubled, so that I might learn Your Law. ⁷² The Law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

²⁷ ‘If anyone among the people of the land sins without meaning to, by doing any of the things the Lord said not to do, he becomes guilty. ²⁸ If his sin is made known to him, he will bring for his gift a female goat that is perfect, for the sin he has done. ²⁹ He will lay his hand on the head of the sin gift, and kill the sin gift at the place of burnt gifts. ³⁰ The religious leader will take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt gifts. He will pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. ³¹ Then he will take all its fat, just as the fat was taken from the peace gifts. And the religious leader will burn it on the altar for a pleasing smell to the Lord. So the religious leader will pay for his sin. And he will be forgiven.

Making Things Right

¹⁴ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁵ “If a person is not faithful and sins against the holy things of the Lord without meaning to, he should bring his guilt gift to the Lord. It should be a ram that is perfect from the flock, worth money the same as the weight of silver decided upon for the holy place. It is a guilt gift. ¹⁶ He should pay for his sin against the holy thing, and add one-fifth part to it, and give it to the religious leader. Then the religious leader will give for his sin the ram of the guilt gift as the price for his sin. And he will be forgiven.

¹¹ Dear friends, your real home is not here on earth. You are strangers here. I ask you to keep away from all the sinful desires of the flesh. These things fight to get hold of your soul. ¹² When you are around people who do not know God, be careful how you act. Even if they talk against you as wrong-doers, in the end they will give thanks to God for your good works when Christ comes again.

Obey the Leaders

¹³ Obey the head leader of the country and all other leaders over you. This pleases the Lord. ¹⁴ Obey the men who work for them. God sends them to punish those who do wrong and to show respect to those who do right. ¹⁵ This is what God wants. When you do right, you stop foolish men from saying bad things. ¹⁶ Obey as men who are free but do not use this to cover up sin. Live as servants owned by God at all times. ¹⁷ Show respect to all men. Love the Christians. Honor God with love and fear. Respect the head leader of the country.