Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁹⁷ I deeply love your Law!
    I think about it all day.
⁹⁸ Your laws never leave my mind,
and they make me much wiser
    than my enemies.
⁹⁹ Thinking about your teachings
gives me better understanding
    than my teachers,
¹⁰⁰ and obeying your laws
makes me wiser than those
    who have lived a long time.
¹⁰¹ I obey your word
instead of following a way
    that leads to trouble.
¹⁰² You have been my teacher,
and I won't reject
    your instructions.
¹⁰³ Your teachings are sweeter
    than honey.
¹⁰⁴ They give me understanding
    and make me hate all lies.

^19 (D) Because of your great mercy,
you never abandoned them
    in the desert.
And you always guided them
with a cloud by day
    and a fire at night.
²⁰ Your gentle Spirit
    instructed them,^[a]
and you gave them manna^[b] to eat
    and water to drink.
²¹ You took good care of them,
and for forty years
    they never lacked a thing.
Their clothes didn't wear out,
and their feet were never swollen.

^22 (E) You let them conquer kings
    and take their land,
including King Sihon of Heshbon
    and King Og of Bashan.^[c]
23 (F) You brought them into the land
that you had promised
    their ancestors,
and you blessed their nation
with people that outnumbered
    the stars in the sky.

^24 (G) Then their descendants
    conquered the land.
You helped them defeat
    the kings and nations
and treat their enemies
    however they wished.
^25 (H) They captured strong cities
    and rich farmland;
they took furnished houses,
    as well as cisterns,^[d]
    vineyards, olive orchards,
    and numerous fruit trees.
They ate till they were satisfied,
and they celebrated
    your abundant blessings.

^26 (I)(J) In spite of this, they rebelled
    and disobeyed your laws.
They killed your prophets,
    who warned them
to turn back to you,
    and they cursed your name.
²⁷ So you handed them over
to their enemies,
    who treated them terribly.
But in their sufferings,
    they begged you to help.
From heaven you listened
    to their prayers
and because of your great mercy,
you sent leaders to rescue them.

^28 (K) But when they were at peace,
    they would turn against you,
and you would hand them over
    to their enemies.
Then they would beg for help,
and because you are merciful,
    you rescued them
    over and over again.
^29 (L) You warned them to turn back
and discover true life
    by obeying your laws.
But they stubbornly refused
    and continued to sin.
^30 (M) For years, you were patient,
    and your Spirit^[e] warned them
with messages spoken
    by your prophets.
Still they refused to listen,
and you handed them over
    to their enemies.
³¹ But you are merciful and kind,
and so you never forgot them
    or let them be destroyed.