Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Praise for God’s Love
103 Praise the Lord, O my soul. And all that is within me, praise His holy name. 2 Praise the Lord, O my soul. And forget none of His acts of kindness. 3 He forgives all my sins. He heals all my diseases. 4 He saves my life from the grave. He crowns me with loving-kindness and pity. 5 He fills my years with good things and I am made young again like the eagle.
6 The Lord does what is right and fair for all who suffer under a bad power. 7 He made His ways known to Moses and His acts to the people of Israel. 8 The Lord is full of loving-pity and kindness. He is slow to anger and has much loving-kindness. 9 He will not always keep after us. And He will not keep His anger back forever. 10 He has not punished us enough for all our sins. He has not paid us back for all our wrong-doings. 11 For His loving-kindness for those who fear Him is as great as the heavens are high above the earth. 12 He has taken our sins from us as far as the east is from the west. 13 The Lord has loving-pity on those who fear Him, as a father has loving-pity on his children.
22 Praise the Lord, all His works in all places under His rule. Praise the Lord, O my soul!
More Sinful Than Samaria and Sodom
44 “Every one who uses sayings will use this saying about you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ 45 You are the daughter of your mother, who hated her husband and her children. You are also a sister of your sisters who hated their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father was an Amorite. 46 Your older sister is Samaria, who lives north of you with her daughters. And your younger sister is Sodom, who lives south of you with her daughters. 47 Yet you have walked in their ways and done their hated acts. As if that were too little, you acted worse in all your ways than they. 48 As I live,” says the Lord God, “your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. 49 Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had pride, much food, and too much rest, but she did not help those who were poor and in need. 50 They were proud and did hated sins in front of Me. So I took them away when I saw it. 51 Samaria has not done half of your sins. You have done more sins than they. So you have made your sisters look right and good by all the hated sins which you have done. 52 Take your shame upon you, for you have made Me show favor to them in their punishment. Because of your sins in which you acted worse than they, they are more in the right than you. So then be ashamed and take your shame upon you, for you have made your sisters look right and good.
1 This letter is from Simon Peter. I am a missionary of Jesus Christ and a servant owned by Him. I am writing to those who have received the same faith as ours which is of great worth and which no amount of money can buy. This faith comes from our God and Jesus Christ, the One Who saves. 2 May you have more and more of His loving-favor and peace as you come to know God and our Lord Jesus Christ better.
Christians Are to Grow
3 He gives us everything we need for life and for holy living. He gives it through His great power. As we come to know Him better, we learn that He called us to share His own shining-greatness and perfect life. 4 Through His shining-greatness and perfect life, He has given us promises. These promises are of great worth and no amount of money can buy them. Through these promises you can have God’s own life in you now that you have gotten away from the sinful things of the world which came from wrong desires of the flesh.
5 Do your best to add holy living to your faith. Then add to this a better understanding. 6 As you have a better understanding, be able to say no when you need to. Do not give up. And as you wait and do not give up, live God-like. 7 As you live God-like, be kind to Christian brothers and love them. 8 If you have all these things and keep growing in them, they will keep you from being of no use and from having no fruit when it comes to knowing our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But if you do not have these things, you are blind and cannot see far. You forget God saved you from your old life of sin. 10 Christian brothers, make sure you are among those He has chosen and called out for His own. As long as you do these things, you will never trip and fall. 11 In this way, the road will be made wide open for you. And you will go into the holy nation that lasts forever of our Lord Jesus Christ, the One Who saves.
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