Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 81[a]
An Admonition to Fidelity
1 For the leader; “upon the gittith.”[b] Of Asaph.
I
2 Sing joyfully to God our strength;(A)
raise loud shouts to the God of Jacob!
3 Take up a melody, sound the timbrel,
the pleasant lyre with a harp.
4 [c]Blow the shofar at the new moon,
at the full moon, on our solemn feast.(B)
5 For this is a law for Israel,
an edict of the God of Jacob,(C)
6 He made it a decree for Joseph
when he came out of the land of Egypt.
II
7 [d]I heard a tongue I did not know:
“I removed his shoulder from the burden;[e]
his hands moved away from the basket.(D)
8 In distress you called and I rescued you;
I answered you in secret with thunder;
At the waters of Meribah[f] I tested you:(E) 9 ‘Listen, my people, I will testify against you
Selah
If only you will listen to me, Israel!(F)
10 There shall be no foreign god among you;[g](G)
you shall not bow down to an alien god.
Chapter 23
Holy Days.[a] 1 The Lord said to Moses: 2 Speak to the Israelites and tell them: The following are the festivals(A) of the Lord, which you shall declare holy days. These are my festivals:
3 For six days work may be done; but the seventh day is a sabbath of complete rest,[b] a declared holy day; you shall do no work. It is the Lord’s sabbath wherever you dwell.(B)
Passover. 4 These are the festivals of the Lord, holy days which you shall declare at their proper time.(C) 5 The Passover of the Lord[c] falls on the fourteenth day of the first month, at the evening twilight.(D) 6 The fifteenth day of this month is the Lord’s feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.(E) 7 On the first of these days you will have a declared holy day; you shall do no heavy work. 8 On each of the seven days you shall offer an oblation to the Lord. Then on the seventh day you will have a declared holy day; you shall do no heavy work.
31 [a]What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?(A) 32 He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him?(B) 33 Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who acquits us.(C) 34 Who will condemn? It is Christ [Jesus] who died, rather, was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.(D) 35 What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? 36 As it is written:(E)
“For your sake we are being slain all the day;
we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us.(F) 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things,[b] nor future things, nor powers,(G) 39 nor height, nor depth,[c] nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.