Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 103
Bless the Lord, Who Forgives All Your Sins
Heading
By David.
Invitation to Praise
1 Bless the Lord,[a] O my soul.
All that is within me, bless his holy name.
Praise for Personal Blessings
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and do not forget all his benefits—
3 who pardons all your guilt,
who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with mercy and compassion,
5 who satisfies your life[b] with goodness,
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.
Praise for Blessings Through Moses
6 The Lord performs righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel.
God’s Great Mercy
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in mercy.
9 He will not always accuse.
He will not keep his anger forever.
10 He does not treat us as our sins deserve.
He does not repay us according to our guilty deeds.
God’s Mercy Illustrated
11 Yes, as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so powerful is his mercy toward those who fear him.
12 As distant as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our rebellious acts from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.
22 Bless the Lord, everything he has made
in all places where he rules.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
44 Hear this! Everyone will speak this proverb about you: “Like mother, like daughter.” 45 You are a true daughter of your mother, who despises her husband and her children, and you are a true sister of your sisters, who despise their husbands and their children. The mother of all of you was a Hittite and your father was an Amorite. 46 Your older sister is Samaria, who along with her daughters[a] lives north of you, and your younger sister, who lives south of you along with her daughters, is Sodom. 47 You did not merely walk in their ways or act according to their abominations, since in a very short time you became more depraved in all your ways than they were. 48 As I live, says the Lord God, your sister Sodom along with her daughters has not done what you have done along with your daughters. 49 Look, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: Pride, overindulgence in food, and complacent ease were the way for her and her daughters, and she failed to strengthen the hands[b] of the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty, and they committed abominations in my presence, and so I removed them when I saw it. 51 Samaria did not sin half as much as you did. You multiplied your abominations more than they did. You made your sisters appear righteous by all your abominations which you committed. 52 So you must bear your disgrace, because by your sins you appeared to plead your sisters’ case for them. Because of your sins—you acted more repulsively than they did—they appear more righteous than you. So you must be ashamed and bear your disgrace, because you made your sisters appear righteous.
Greeting
1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have obtained the same kind of faith as ours in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus[a] our Lord.
Keep on Growing
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own[b] glory and excellence. 4 Through these he has given us his precious and great promises so that through them you may share in the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that sinful lust causes in the world.
5 And, for this very reason, after applying every effort, add moral excellence to your faith. To moral excellence, add knowledge. 6 To knowledge, add self-control. To self-control, add patient endurance. To patient endurance, add godliness. 7 To godliness, add brotherly affection. And to brotherly affection, add love. 8 For if you have these qualities and they are increasing, they are going to keep you from being idle or unfruitful in regard to your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 Indeed, the person who lacks these qualities is shortsighted and, in fact, blind, because he has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
Make Your Calling and Election Sure
10 Therefore, brothers,[c] be more eager to make your calling and election sure for yourselves.[d] For if you do these things, you will never stumble. 11 In fact, in this way you will be richly supplied with an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.