Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Prosperity of the One Who Fears the Lord.
112 Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
Blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the man who fears the Lord [with awe-inspired reverence and worships Him with obedience],
Who delights greatly in His commandments.(A)
2
His descendants will be mighty on earth;
The generation of the upright will be blessed.
3
Wealth and riches are in his house,
And his righteousness endures forever.
4
Light arises in the darkness for the upright;
He is gracious and compassionate and righteous (upright—in right standing with God).
5
It is well with the man who is gracious and lends;
He conducts his affairs with justice.(B)
6
He will never be shaken;
The righteous will be remembered forever.(C)
7
He will not fear bad news;
His heart is steadfast, trusting [confidently relying on and believing] in the Lord.
8
His heart is upheld, he will not fear
While he looks [with satisfaction] on his adversaries.
9
He has given freely to the poor;
His righteousness endures forever;
His horn will be exalted in honor.(D)
10
The wicked will see it and be angered,
He will gnash his teeth and melt away [in despair and death];
The desire of the wicked will perish and come to nothing.
Laws on Morality
13 “If any man takes a wife and goes in to her and then scorns and hates her, 14 and charges her [without cause] with shameful behavior and [a]publicly defames her, and says, ‘I took this woman, but when I approached her, I did not find in her evidence of virginity,’ 15 then the young woman’s father and her mother shall get and bring out the evidence of her virginity to the elders of the city at the gate [where court is held]. 16 The father of the young woman shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as a wife, but he hates her and has turned against her; 17 and behold, he has made baseless charges against her, saying, “I did not find in your daughter the evidence of her virginity.” But this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread out the [b]garment before the elders of the city. 18 Then the elders of that city shall take the man and reprimand him, 19 and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give it to the father of the young woman, because he [c]publicly defamed a virgin of Israel. And she shall remain his wife; he is not allowed to divorce her as long as he lives.
20 “But if this charge is true that the evidence of virginity was not found in the young woman, 21 then they shall bring her out to the doorway of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death because she has committed a deliberate sin in Israel by playing the prostitute in her father’s house. So you shall remove the evil from among you.
22 “If a man is [d]intimate with a woman who is another man’s wife, they shall both be put to death, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall remove the evil from Israel.
23 “If a young woman who is a virgin is engaged (legally betrothed) to a man, and another man finds her in the city and is intimate with her, 24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and stone them to death—the young woman because she did not cry out for help [though she was] in the city, and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s [promised] wife. So you shall remove the evil from among you.
25 “However, if the man finds the girl who is engaged (legally betrothed) in the [open] field, and seizes her and is intimate with her [by force], then only the man who lies with her shall be put to death. 26 But you shall do nothing to the young woman; she has committed no sin worthy of death, for this is the same as when a man attacks his neighbor and murders [e]him. 27 When he found her in the [open] field, the engaged girl [may have] cried out for help, but there was no one to [hear and] save her.
28 “If a man finds a girl who is a virgin, who is not engaged, and seizes her and is intimate with her and they are discovered, 29 then the man who was intimate with her shall give fifty shekels of silver to the girl’s father, and she shall become his wife because he has violated her; he can [f]never divorce her.
30 “[g]A man shall not take his father’s [former] wife, so that he will not [h]expose his father’s wife.
Teaching on Marriage
7 Now as to the matters of which you wrote: It is good (beneficial, advantageous) for a man not to touch a woman [outside marriage]. 2 But because of [the temptation to participate in] sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. 3 The husband must fulfill his [marital] duty to his wife [with good will and kindness], and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have [exclusive] authority over her own body, but the husband shares with her; and likewise the husband does not have [exclusive] authority over his body, but the wife shares with him. 5 Do not deprive each other [of marital rights], except perhaps by mutual consent for a time, so that you may devote yourselves [unhindered] to prayer, but come together again so that Satan will not tempt you [to sin] because of your lack of self-control. 6 But I am saying this as a concession, not as a command. 7 I wish that all the people were as I am; but each person has his own gift from God, one of this kind and one of that.
8 But I say to the unmarried and to the widows, [that as a practical matter] it is good if they remain [single and entirely devoted to the Lord] [a]as I am. 9 But if they do not have [sufficient] self-control, they should marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
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