Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁹⁷ Oh, how I love Your law!
    I fix my mind on it all day long.
⁹⁸ Your commands make me wiser than my enemies
    because they are always with me.
⁹⁹ I have more discernment than all my teachers
    because I study and meditate on Your testimonies.
¹⁰⁰ I comprehend more than those who are my elders
    because I have kept Your precepts.
¹⁰¹ I have kept my feet from walking the paths of evil
    so that I may live according to Your word.
¹⁰² I have not neglected Your lessons,
    for You, God, have been my teacher.
¹⁰³ Your words are sweet to my taste!
    Yes, they are sweeter than honey in my mouth!
¹⁰⁴ I gain understanding from Your instructions;
    that’s why I hate every deceitful path.

^16-17     But our ancestors resisted following You.
        They were arrogant. They were proud.
    They refused to obey Your commands, plugging their ears.
        Knowing what You had done for them in the past,
    They willfully forgot it in the present. Stubborn. Rebellious.
        Instead of following You,
    They appointed their own leader
        to take them back to the land of their oppression—to Egypt!
    But You are not like us, God.
        You are filled with love, compassion, and forgiveness.
    You endure much with your anger and display Your loyal love;
        You did not abandon them,
¹⁸     Even when they molded a cow out of gold for themselves, saying,
        “This is the god who rescued us from Egypt.”
    They committed horrible atrocities.
¹⁹     In Your incomprehensible compassion,
        You did not abandon them in the wilderness.
    The pillar of cloud didn’t evaporate;
        day by day it guided them.
    The pillar of fire was not extinguished;
        night by night it led them along the right paths.
²⁰     In Your generosity, You gave them Your good Spirit to teach them.
        Not once did You hold back manna for their mouths
        or drink for their thirst.
²¹     In 40 years of living in the wilderness,
        You provided for every need they had:
    Their clothing did not wear out,
        nor did their feet swell from endless walking.
²²     You gave them kingdoms and peoples
        that they could divide up to the corners of their territory:
    The country of Sihon (king of Hesbon)
        and the territory of Og (king of Bashan).
²³     The children of Israel multiplied
        and rivaled the stars in the sky.
    You brought them to the very land
        You promised Abraham’s
    His descendants would come into and possess.
²⁴     Into the land they went, and it became theirs.
        For our forefathers You made sure even the Canaanites there were powerless.
    You subdued everything and everyone to their power—
        land, kings, and people—to do with as they pleased.
²⁵     They overwhelmed strong and secure cities.
        They overtook fertile, productive land.
    They claimed well-furnished houses, wells that were already dug,
        vineyards, olive groves, and orchards filled with fruit.
    They ate their fill. They grew fat.
        They basked in Your generosity and goodness.
²⁶     Even so, again they chose to defy You.
        They rebelled.
        They abandoned Your law.
    They killed the prophets who spoke Your word,
        who pleaded with them to return to You, God.
    And again, atrocities multiplied on top of atrocities.
²⁷     So You surrendered them to their enemies,
        and Your people suffered at their hands.
    And in pain, they cried out to You.
        From heaven You listened,
    And in keeping with Your changeless and compassionate character,
        You sent them liberators,
    Saviors who rescued them from their cruel adversaries.
²⁸     As soon as they were at peace, they began to wander and abandoned You
        and did evil things, so You abandoned them to their enemies.
    Thus, once more, You allowed them to be conquered.
        Somehow Your mercy is inexhaustible.
    Once more You listened to them when they cried to You in heaven for help.
        Over and over and over You intervened and saved Your people.
²⁹     You also warned them to return to Your ways
        and follow the laws You have given.
        They arrogantly violated the very commands,
    Which if they would obey them
        then they would live by them.
    Stubborn, they turned away from You,
        tensed their necks, and stopped listening.
³⁰     Year after year, Your patience endured.
        Your Spirit animated prophets, and they spoke many warnings to them.
    In not listening and turning away from the prophets,
        they turned directly into their advancing enemies.
³¹     It was because of Your great mercy
        that they were not completely annihilated or forsaken.
    You are a grace-filled and mercy-laden God;