Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Israel’s Failure to Trust God
106 Praise the Lord!
Thank the Lord because he is good.
His ·love [loyalty] continues forever.
2 ·No one [L Who…?] can tell all the mighty things the Lord has done;
·no one [L who…?] can ·speak [declare] all his praise.
3 ·Happy [Blessed] are those who ·do [keep; observe; guard] ·right [justice],
who do what is ·fair [righteous] at all times.
4 Lord, remember me when you ·are kind [show favor] to your people;
·help [come to] me when you ·save them [give them victory].
5 Let me see the ·good things you do for [prosperity of] your chosen people.
Let me ·be happy [rejoice] along with your ·happy [rejoicing] nation;
let me join your ·own people [inheritance] in praising you.
6 We have sinned just as our ·ancestors [fathers] did.
We have done wrong; we have done evil.
13 But they quickly forgot what he had done;
they did not wait for his ·advice [counsel].
14 They ·became greedy for food [developed deep cravings] in the ·desert [wilderness; Num. 11],
and they tested God ·there [L in desolate places; Ex. 17:7].
15 So he gave them what they ·wanted [asked for],
but he also sent ·a terrible disease [a wasting sickness; emaciation] among them [Num. 11:33–35].
16 The people in the camp were jealous of Moses
and of Aaron, the holy ·priest [one] of the Lord.
17 Then the ground opened up and swallowed Dathan
and closed over Abiram’s ·group [assembly].
18 A fire burned among their ·followers [congregation],
and flames burned up the wicked [Num. 16].
19 The people made a gold calf at ·Mount Sinai [L Horeb; C another name for Sinai]
and ·worshiped [bowed down to] a metal statue [Ex. 32; Deut. 9:7–17].
20 They exchanged their ·glorious God [L glory; C God’s manifest presence]
for ·a statue [the image] of a bull that eats grass.
21 They forgot the God who ·saved them [had given them victory],
who had done great things in Egypt,
22 who had done miracles in the land of Ham [C Egypt]
and amazing things by the ·Red [or Reed] Sea [v. 7].
23 So God said he would destroy them.
But Moses, his chosen one, stood ·before him [L in the breech before him]
and ·stopped God’s anger from destroying them [calmed his destructive wrath; Ex. 32:30—33:23; Deut. 9:18–21].
47 Lord our God, ·save us [give us victory]
and ·bring us back [gather us] from other nations [C perhaps from the exile].
Then we will ·thank [praise] ·you [L your holy name]
and will ·gladly praise you [glory in your praise].
48 ·Praise [Bless] the Lord, the God of Israel.
He ·always was and always will be [is from everlasting to everlasting].
Let all the people say, “Amen!”
Praise the Lord!
21 The Lord was angry with me because of you, and he swore that I would not cross the Jordan River to go into the good land the Lord your God is giving you as ·your own [L an inheritance]. 22 I will die here in this land and not cross the Jordan [34:1–8], but you will soon go across and take that good land. 23 Be careful. Don’t forget the ·Agreement [Covenant; Treaty] of the Lord your God that he made with you, and don’t make any idols for yourselves, as the Lord your God has commanded you not to do. 24 The Lord your God is a jealous God [5:9; 6:15; Ex. 20:5; 34:14; Josh. 24:19; Nah. 1:2], ·like a fire that burns things up [a consuming fire].
25 Even after you have ·lived [grown old; or become complacent] in the land a long time and have had children and grandchildren, don’t ·do evil things [ruin/destroy/spoil/corrupt yourselves]. Don’t make any kind of idol, and don’t do what ·the Lord your God says is evil [L what is evil/wrong in the eyes of the Lord your God], because that will make him angry. 26 If you do, I ask heaven and earth to ·speak [witness] against you this day that you will quickly be removed from this land that you are crossing the Jordan River to ·take [possess]. You will not live there long after that, but you will be completely destroyed. 27 The Lord will scatter you among the other nations. Only a few of you will be left alive, and those few will be in other nations where the Lord will ·send [lead] you. 28 There you will ·worship [serve] gods made by ·people [L human hands], gods made of wood and stone, that cannot see, hear, eat, or smell. 29 But even there you can look for the Lord your God, and you will find him if you look for him with ·your whole being [L all your heart/mind and all your inner being]. 30 It will be ·hard [distressful] when all these things happen to you. But after that you will come back to the Lord your God and ·obey [hear] him, 31 because the Lord your God is a merciful God [Ex. 34:6; 2 Chr. 30:9; Neh. 9:31; Ps. 111:4; Joel 2:3]. He will not ·leave [fail] you or ·destroy [ruin; spoil] you. He will not forget the ·Agreement [Covenant; Treaty] with your ·ancestors [fathers], which he ·swore [promised] to them.
The Lord Is Great
32 ·Nothing like this has ever happened before! Look at the past [L Ask about the former days], long before ·you were even born [L you]. Go all the way back to when God ·made [created] humans on the earth [Gen. 1:26–27], and look from one end of heaven to the other. ·Nothing like this has ever [L Has anything as great as this…?] been heard of! 33 ·No [L What…?] other people have ever heard God speak from a fire and have still lived. But you have. 34 ·No [L What…?] other god has ever taken for himself one nation out of another. But the Lord your God did this for you in Egypt, right before your own eyes. He did it with tests, signs, miracles, war, and great sights, by his ·great power [L strong hand] and ·strength [L outstretched arm].
35 He ·showed you [revealed] things so you would know that the Lord is God, and there is no other God besides him. 36 He spoke to you from heaven to ·teach [instruct; or discipline] you. He ·showed [revealed to] you his great fire on earth, and you heard him speak from the fire. 37 Because the Lord loved your ·ancestors [fathers; Gen. 12:1–3], he chose you, their ·descendants [L seed], and he brought you out of Egypt himself by his great strength. 38 He ·forced [dispossessed] nations out of their land ahead of you, nations that were bigger and stronger than you were. The Lord did this so he could bring you into their land and give it to you as your ·own [L inheritance], ·and this land is yours today [L as it is this day].
39 Know and ·believe [take to heart; bear in mind] today that the Lord is God. He is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other god! 40 Obey his ·laws [statutes; ordinances; requirements] and commands that I am giving you today so that things will go well for you and your children. Then you will live a long time in the land that the Lord your God is giving to you forever.
9 Then Jesus said to them, “You ·cleverly ignore [are very good at ignoring/despising] the commands of God so you can follow your own ·teachings [tradition]. 10 [For] Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’ [Ex. 20:12; Deut. 5:16], and ‘Anyone who ·says cruel things to [speaks evil of; curses] his father or mother must be put to death’ [Ex. 21:17; Lev. 20:9]. 11 But you say a person can tell his father or mother, ‘I have something I could use to help you, but it is Corban—a gift to God.’ [C Corban is a Hebrew term meaning dedicated or set aside to God.] 12 You no longer let that person ·use that money [do anything] for his father or his mother. 13 By your own ·rules [tradition], which you ·teach people [have handed down], you are ·rejecting [nullifying; canceling] what God said. And you do many things like that.”
14 After Jesus called the crowd to him again, he said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand what I am saying. 15 There is nothing people put into their bodies that ·makes them unclean [pollutes/defiles them]. [But rather] People are ·made unclean [polluted; defiled] by the things that come out of them. |16 ·Let those with ears use them and listen [see 4:23].|”[a]
17 When Jesus left the ·people [crowd] and went into the house, his ·followers [disciples] asked him about this ·story [parable; see 3:23]. 18 Jesus said, “·Do you still not understand [Are you so dull]? ·Surely you know [L Don’t you know…?] that nothing that enters someone from the outside can make that person ·unclean [polluted; defiled]. 19 [Because] It does not go into the ·mind [heart], but into the stomach. Then it goes ·out of the body [L into the sewer/latrine].” ·(When Jesus said this, he meant that no longer was any food unclean for people to eat.) [or, (In this way, Jesus cleansed all food.)]
20 And Jesus said, “The things that come out of people are the things that make them ·unclean [defiled]. 21 ·All these evil things begin inside people, in the mind [L For from within, out of human hearts, come]: evil ·thoughts [intentions; ideas], sexual sins, stealing, murder, adultery, 22 greed, ·evil actions [wickedness], ·lying [deceit], ·doing sinful things [indecency; lust; lewdness], ·jealousy [envy; L evil eye], ·speaking evil of others [slander; blasphemy], pride, and foolish living. 23 All these evil things come from inside and make people ·unclean [defiled].”
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