Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Good Comes to the Person Who Honors the Lord

112 Praise the Lord! How happy is the man who honors the Lord with fear and finds joy in His Law! ² His children will be powerful in the land. Each family who is right will be happy. ³ Riches and well-being are in his house. And his right-standing with God will last forever. ⁴ Light rises even in darkness for the one who is right. He is kind and has loving-pity and does what is right. ⁵ Good will come to the man who is ready to give much, and fair in what he does. ⁶ He will never be shaken. The man who is right and good will be remembered forever. ⁷ He will not be afraid of bad news. His heart is strong because he trusts in the Lord. ⁸ His heart will not be shaken. He will not be afraid and will watch those lose who fight against him. ⁹ He has given much to the poor. His right-standing with God lasts forever. His horn will be lifted high in honor.

¹⁰ The sinful man will see it and be troubled and angry. He will grind his teeth and waste away. The desire of the sinful will come to nothing.

Law of Those Who Are Not Faithful in Marriage

¹³ “If a man takes a wife and goes in to her and decides he does not like her, ¹⁴ and says that she did sinful acts and puts her to shame before others and says, ‘I took this woman, but when I came near her, I found that she had been with another man,’ ¹⁵ then the girl’s father and mother should bring what is needed to prove she has not been with another man to the leaders of the city at the gate. ¹⁶ The girl’s father will say to the leaders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man for a wife. But he turned against her. ¹⁷ He said she has done sinful acts, saying, “I found that your daughter has been with another man.” But I brought what will prove that my daughter has not been with another man.’ And they will spread the clothing in front of the leaders of the city. ¹⁸ Then the leaders of that city will take the man and punish him. ¹⁹ They will make him pay a hundred pieces of silver and give it to the girl’s father, because he has put to shame the name of an Israelite girl who has not had a man. She will still be his wife. He cannot divorce her as long as he lives. ²⁰ But if it is true that the girl was found to have had another man, ²¹ then they will bring the girl to the door of her father’s house. There the men of her city will kill her with stones, because she has done a foolish act in Israel by acting in her father’s house like a woman who sells the use of her body. So you will get rid of the sin from among you.

²² “If a man is found lying with a married woman, then both of them must die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you will get rid of the sin from Israel.

²³ “If a girl who has never had a man is promised in marriage to a man, another man might find her in the city and lie with her. ²⁴ Then you must bring them both to the gate of that city and kill them with stones. Put the girl to death because she did not cry for help in the city, and the man because he has sinned against his neighbor’s wife. So you will get rid of the sin from among you. ²⁵ But if the man finds a girl in the field who is promised in marriage, and makes her lie with him, then only the man who lies with her will die. ²⁶ Do nothing to the girl. There is no sin in the girl bad enough for her to be put to death. It is as if a man goes against his neighbor and kills him. ²⁷ When he found her in the field, the girl promised in marriage cried out. But there was no one to save her.

²⁸ “If a man finds a girl who has never had a man and is not promised in marriage, and takes her and lies with her, and they are found, ²⁹ then the man who lay with her must give fifty pieces of silver to the girl’s father. And she will become his wife, because he has put her to shame. He cannot divorce her as long as he lives.

³⁰ “A man must not take his father’s wife. He must not take the clothes off the woman who belongs to his father.

How a Husband and Wife Should Live

7 You asked me some questions in your letter. This is my answer. It is good if a man does not get married. ² But because of being tempted to sex sins, each man should get married and have his own wife. Each woman should get married and have her own husband. ³ The husband should please his wife as a husband. The wife should please her husband as a wife. ⁴ The wife is not the boss of her own body. It belongs to the husband. And in the same way, the husband is not the boss of his own body. It belongs to the wife.

⁵ Do not keep from each other that which belongs to each other in marriage unless you agree for awhile so you can use your time to pray. Then come together again or the devil will tempt you to do that which you know you should not do.

⁶ This is what I think. I am not saying you must do it. ⁷ I wish everyone were as I am, but each has his own gift from God. One has one gift. Another has another gift.

⁸ This is what I say to those who are not married and to women whose husbands have died. It is good if you do not get married. I am not married. ⁹ But if you are not able to keep from doing that which you know is wrong, get married. It is better to get married than to have such strong sex desires.