Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Good Men
15 O Lord, who may live in Your tent? Who may live on Your holy hill? 2 He who walks without blame and does what is right and good, and speaks the truth in his heart. 3 He does not hurt others with his tongue, or do wrong to his neighbor, or bring shame to his friend. 4 He looks down upon a sinful person, but honors those who fear the Lord. He keeps his promises even if it may hurt him. 5 He gives money to be used without being paid for its use. And he does not take money to hurt those who are not guilty. He who does these things will never be shaken.
15 Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two stone writings of the Law in his hand. The stones were written on both sides, on one side and the other. 16 The stone writings were God’s work. The writing was God’s writing cut into the stones. 17 When Joshua heard the sound of the people as they made noise, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war at the tents.” 18 But Moses said, “It is not the sound of winning, or the sound of losing. It is the sound of singing I hear.” 19 As soon as Moses came near the tents, he saw the calf and the dancing. Moses became very angry. He threw the stone writings from his hands and broke them at the base of the mountain. 20 And he took the calf they had made and burned it with fire, ground it to dust, spread it over the top of the water, and made the people of Israel drink it.
21 Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you to make you bring such great sin upon them?” 22 Aaron said, “Do not let my lord be angry. You know the people yourself and how sinful they are.
23 They said to me, ‘Make a god for us who will go in front of us. For we do not know what has become of Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt.’ 24 And I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them take it off.’ So they gave it to me. I threw it into the fire and out came this calf.”
25 Moses saw that Aaron had let the people go wild and become a shame to those who hated them. 26 So Moses stood in the gate of the place where they had set up their tents and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me!” And all the sons of Levi came together around him. 27 He said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Every man put his sword on his thigh. And go from one end of the tents to the other, and each one kill his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’” 28 So the sons of Levi did as Moses said. About 3,000 men fell that day. 29 Then Moses said, “Today you have set yourselves apart for the Lord. For each man has been against his son and against his brother, so the Lord may bring good to you today.”
30 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned. Now I am going up to the Lord. It might be that I can have your sin forgiven.” 31 Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, “O, this people have sinned. They have made a god of gold for themselves. 32 But now, if You will, forgive their sin. If not, then take my name out of Your book which You have written.” 33 The Lord said to Moses, “I will put out of My book whoever has sinned against Me. 34 But go now. Lead the people where I told you. See, My angel will go before you. But in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.” 35 Then the Lord sent trouble upon the people, because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.
9 A Christian brother who has few riches of this world should be happy for what he has. He is great in the eyes of God. 10 But a rich man should be happy even if he loses everything. He is like a flower that will die. 11 The sun comes up with burning heat. The grass dries up and the flower falls off. It is no longer beautiful. The rich man will die also and all his riches will be gone. 12 The man who does not give up when tests come is happy. After the test is over, he will receive the crown of life. God has promised this to those who love Him.
God Does Not Tempt Us
13 When you are tempted to do wrong, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God cannot be tempted. He will never tempt anyone. 14 A man is tempted to do wrong when he lets himself be led by what his bad thoughts tell him to do. 15 When he does what his bad thoughts tell him to do, he sins. When sin completes its work, it brings death.
16 My Christian brothers, do not be fooled about this.
Copyright © 1969, 2003 by Barbour Publishing, Inc.