Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Lord Is Good to His People

106 Praise the Lord! O give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His loving-kindness lasts forever. ² Who can put into words the great works of the Lord? Who can make known all His praise? ³ Happy are those who are faithful in being fair and who always do what is right and good!

⁴ O Lord, remember me when You show favor to Your people. Visit me also when You save them. ⁵ So I may share in the well-being of Your chosen ones. So I may share in the joy of Your nation, and be proud of Your people.

⁶ We have sinned like our fathers. We have done wrong. We have been sinful in our actions. ⁷ Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your powerful works. They did not remember how many times You showed Your loving-kindness. But they turned against You by the sea, the Red Sea. ⁸ Yet He saved them because of the honor of His name, and to make His great power known. ⁹ So He spoke sharp words to the Red Sea and it dried up. And He led them through the sea as through a desert. ¹⁰ He saved them from the hand of those who hated them. He set them free from the hand of those who went against them. ¹¹ And the waters covered those who hated them. Not one of them was left. ¹² Then they believed His promises. They sang His praise.

Jacob’s Dream

¹⁰ Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. ¹¹ He came to a certain place and stayed the night there, because the sun had gone down. He took one of the stones there and put it under his head for a pillow. ¹² And he had a dream. He saw steps going up from the earth to heaven. He saw the angels of God going up and down these steps. ¹³ And he saw the Lord standing above them. He said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham, and the God of Isaac. I will give to you and your children after you the land where you are lying. ¹⁴ They will be like the dust of the earth. You will spread out to the west and the east and the north and the south. Good will come to all the families of the earth because of you and your children. ¹⁵ See, I am with you. I will care for you everywhere you go. And I will bring you again to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done all the things I promised you.” ¹⁶ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “For sure the Lord is in this place and I did not know it.” ¹⁷ He was afraid and said, “This place is so different! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

¹⁷ I ask you, Christian brothers, watch out for those who make trouble and start fights. Keep your eye on those who work against the teaching you received. Keep away from them. ¹⁸ Men like that are not working for our Lord Jesus Christ. They are chained to their own desires. With soft words they say things people want to hear. People are fooled by them. ¹⁹ Everyone knows you have obeyed the teaching you received. I am happy with you because of this. But I want you to be wise about good things and pure about sinful things. ²⁰ God, Who is our peace, will soon crush Satan under your feet. May the loving-favor of our Lord Jesus be yours.