Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Prayer to Be Kept Safe from Enemies

25 I lift up my soul to You, O Lord. ² O my God, I trust in You. Do not let me be ashamed. Do not let those who fight against me win. ³ Yes, let no one who hopes in You be put to shame. But put to shame those who hurt others without a reason.

⁴ Show me Your ways, O Lord. Teach me Your paths. ⁵ Lead me in Your truth and teach me. For You are the God Who saves me. I wait for You all day long. ⁶ Remember Your loving-pity and Your loving-kindness, O Lord. For they have been from old. ⁷ Do not remember my sins from when I was young, or my sinful ways. By Your loving-kindness remember me for You are good, O Lord.

⁸ Good and right is the Lord. So He teaches sinners in His ways. ⁹ He leads those without pride into what is right, and teaches them His way.

⁵ But if a man is right and good and does what is right and good, ⁶ he does not eat at the altars on the mountains or look up to the false gods of Israel. He does not sin with his neighbor’s wife or go near a woman during the time she is unclean. ⁷ He does not make it hard for anyone. He keeps his promise to pay back what he owes. He does not steal, but gives his bread to the hungry, and gives clothing to those who have none. ⁸ He does not make others pay back more than they owe him. He keeps away from sin, and is an honest judge when men argue. ⁹ He walks in My Laws and is careful to obey them. This man is right and good, and will live for sure,” says the Lord God.

¹⁰ “But he may have a son who acts in anger and kills another man, or does any of these other things ¹¹ that the father never did. He eats at the altars on the mountains, and sins with his neighbor’s wife. ¹² He makes it hard for the poor and those in need, and he steals. He does not keep his promise to pay back what he owes. He looks up to false gods, and does sinful acts. ¹³ And he makes people pay back more than they owe him. Will this man live? He will not live! He has done all these sinful acts, and for sure he will die. He will be guilty for his own death.

¹⁴ “Now this man may have a son who has seen all the sins his father has done, but does not do the same. ¹⁵ He does not eat at the altars on the mountains or look to the false gods of Israel. He does not sin with his neighbor’s wife, ¹⁶ or make it hard for anyone. He does not keep what another man has given him in trust for a promise. He does not steal, but he gives his bread to the hungry and clothing to those who have none. ¹⁷ He keeps away from sin. He does not make a person pay back more than he owes him. But he walks in My Laws and obeys them. This man will not die for his father’s sin. He will live for sure. ¹⁸ As for his father, because he used his power to rob his brother, and did what was wrong among his people, he will die for his sin.

³² “We bring you the Good News about the promise made to our early fathers. ³³ God has finished this for us who are their children. He did this by raising Jesus from the dead. It is written in the second Psalm, ‘You are My Son. Today I have become Your Father.’ ^{(A) 34} God proved that Jesus was His Son by raising Him from the dead. He will never die again. He has said, ‘I will complete the promises made to David.’ ^(B)

³⁵ “In another Psalm He says, ‘You will not allow Your Holy One to go back to dust!’ ^{(C) 36} David was a good leader for the people of his day. He did what God wanted. Then he died and was put into a grave close to his father’s grave. His body went back to dust. ³⁷ But God raised this One (Christ) to life. He did not go back to dust.

³⁸ “Men and brothers, listen to this. You may be forgiven of your sins by this One I am telling you about. ³⁹ Everyone who puts his trust in Christ will be made right with God. You will be made free from those things the Law of Moses could not make you free from. ⁴⁰ But look out! The writings of the early preachers tell of many things that you do not want to happen to you. ⁴¹ ‘Listen, you who doubt and laugh at the truth will die. I will do a work during your days. It will be a work that you will not believe even if someone tells you about it.’” ^(D)