Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Call to Worship the Lord

96 Sing to the Lord a new song. Let all the earth sing to the Lord. ² Sing to the Lord. Honor His name. Make His saving power known from day to day. ³ Tell of His shining-greatness among the nations. Tell of His wonderful works among all the people. ⁴ For the Lord is great and should be given much praise. He is to be honored with fear above all gods. ⁵ For all the gods of the nations are false gods. But the Lord made the heavens. ⁶ Honor and great power are with Him. Strength and beauty are in His holy place.

⁷ Give to the Lord, O families of the nations, give to the Lord the honor and strength that He should have. ⁸ Give to the Lord the honor of His name. Bring a gift and come into His holy place. ⁹ Worship the Lord in holy clothing. May all the earth shake in fear before Him.

¹⁰ Say among the nations that the Lord rules. The world is built to last. It will not be moved. He will be right when He says who is guilty or not.

¹¹ Let the heavens be glad. And let the earth be full of joy. Let the sea and all that is in it make a loud noise. ¹² Let the fields and all that is in them be full of joy. Then all the trees of the land will sing for joy ¹³ before the Lord. For He is coming. He is coming to say who is guilty or not on the earth. He will be right in what He decides about the world. And He will be faithful to the people.

A King

¹⁴ “When you go into the land the Lord your God gives you, and own it and live in it, and you say, ‘I will have a king rule over me like all the nations around me,’ ¹⁵ then you will set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses. Set a king over you from among your brothers. Do not give a stranger power over you if he is not your brother. ¹⁶ He must not take many horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get many horses. Because the Lord has told you, ‘You must never again return that way.’ ¹⁷ He must not take many wives for himself or his heart may turn away. And he must not gather much silver and gold for himself.

¹⁸ “When he sits on the throne of his nation, he should write this Law for himself in a book in front of the Levite religious leaders. ¹⁹ It should be kept with him and he should read it all the days of his life. Then he will learn to fear the Lord his God, by being careful to obey all the words of these Laws. ²⁰ And he will not think he is better than his brothers. He will not turn aside from the Law, to the right or to the left, so that he and his children may live long in his nation in Israel.

5 I want to speak to the church leaders among you. I am a church leader also. I saw Christ suffer and die on a cross. I will also share His shining-greatness when He comes again. ² Be good shepherds of the flock God has put in your care. Do not care for the flock as if you were made to. Do not care for the flock for money, but do it because you want to. ³ Do not be bosses over the people you lead. Live as you would like to have them live. ⁴ When the Head Shepherd comes again, you will get the crown of shining-greatness that will not come to an end.

⁵ In the same way, you younger men must obey the church leaders. Be gentle as you care for each other. God works against those who have pride. He gives His loving-favor to those who do not try to honor themselves.