Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

4 “Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments which I teach you to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you.

² Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.

⁶ Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations who shall hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’

⁷ For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for?

⁸ And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day?

⁹ “Only take heed to thyself and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life; but teach them to thy sons and thy sons’ sons,

15 Lord, who shall abide in Thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in Thy holy hill?

² He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart;

³ he that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor spreadeth a reproach against his neighbor;

⁴ in whose eyes a vile person is contemned, but he honoreth them that fear the Lord; he that taketh an oath to his own hurt, and changeth not;

⁵ he that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh a bribe against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

¹⁷ Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

¹⁸ Of His own will, He begot us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

¹⁹ Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;

²⁰ for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

²¹ Therefore lay apart all filthiness and the superfluity of wickedness, and receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to save your souls.

²² But be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

²³ For if any be a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror;

²⁴ for he beholdeth himself, and then goeth his way and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

²⁵ But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

²⁶ If any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.

²⁷ Pure religion, undefiled before God and the Father, is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

7 Then came together unto Him the Pharisees and certain of the scribes, who came from Jerusalem.

² And when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled (that is to say, unwashed) hands, they found fault.

³ For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat, unless they wash their hands oft, holding to the tradition of the elders.

⁴ And when they come from the market, they eat not unless they wash; and there are many other customs which they have received and hold to, as the washing of cups, pots, brazen vessels and of tables.

⁵ Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, “Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?”

⁶ He answered and said unto them, “Well hath Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.

⁷ Therefore, in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.’

⁸ For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold to the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups, and many other like things ye do.”

¹⁴ And when He had called all the people unto Him, He said unto them, “Hearken unto Me every one of you, and understand:

¹⁵ There is nothing from outside a man that, entering into him, can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.

²¹ For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

²² thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:

²³ all these evil things come from within and defile the man.”