Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹² Teach us to understand how many days we have. Then we will have a heart of wisdom to give You.

¹³ Return, O Lord. How long will it be? Have pity upon those who work for You. ¹⁴ Fill us in the morning with Your loving-kindness. Let us sing for joy and be glad all our days. ¹⁵ Make us glad for as many days as You have made us suffer, and for the years we have seen trouble. ¹⁶ Let Your work be shown to Your servants. And let Your wonderful greatness be shown to their children. ¹⁷ Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us. And make the work of our hands stand strong. Yes, make the work of our hands stand strong.

God’s Ten Great Laws

5 Then Moses called all Israel, and said to them, “Listen, O Israel, to the Laws which I speak in your hearing today. Learn them and be careful to live by them. ² The Lord our God made an agreement with us at Mount Sinai. ³ The Lord did not make this agreement with our fathers, but with us, all those of us alive here today. ⁴ The Lord spoke to you face to face at the mountain from the center of the fire. ⁵ I was standing between the Lord and you then, to tell you the Word of the Lord. For you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain. He said:

⁶ ‘I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house where you were servants.

⁷ ‘Have no other gods except Me.

⁸ ‘Do not make a false god for yourselves, or anything that is like what is in heaven above or on the earth below or in the water under the earth. ⁹ Do not bow down to them or serve them. I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. I punish the children, the grandchildren and the great-grandchildren for the sins of their fathers who hate Me. ¹⁰ But I show loving-kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Laws.

¹¹ ‘Do not use the name of the Lord your God in a bad way. For the Lord will punish the one who uses His name in a bad way.

¹² ‘Remember the Day of Rest, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God told you. ¹³ Six days you will do all your work. ¹⁴ But the seventh day is a Day of Rest to the Lord your God. You, your son, your daughter, your man servant, your woman servant, your bull, donkey or any of your cattle, or the traveler who stays with you, must not do any work on this day. So your man servant and woman servant may rest as well as you. ¹⁵ Remember that you were servants in the land of Egypt. The Lord your God brought you out of there by a powerful hand and a long arm. So the Lord your God told you to keep the Day of Rest.

¹⁶ ‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has told you. So your life may be long and it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God gives you.

¹⁷ ‘Do not kill another person.

¹⁸ ‘Do not do sex sins.

¹⁹ ‘Do not steal.

²⁰ ‘Do not tell a lie about your neighbor.

²¹ ‘Do not have a desire for your neighbor’s wife. Do not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his man servant, his bull, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’

⁷ The Holy Spirit says, “If you hear His voice today, ⁸ do not let your hearts become hard as your early fathers did when they turned against Me. It was at that time in the desert when they put Me to the test. ⁹ Your early fathers tempted Me and tried Me. They saw the work I did for forty years. ¹⁰ For this reason, I was angry with the people of this day. And I said to them, ‘They always think wrong thoughts. They have never understood what I have tried to do for them.’ ¹¹ I was angry with them and said to Myself, ‘They will never go into My rest.’” ^(A)

¹² Christian brothers, be careful that not one of you has a heart so bad that it will not believe and will turn away from the living God. ¹³ Help each other. Speak day after day to each other while it is still today so your heart will not become hard by being fooled by sin. ¹⁴ For we belong to Christ if we keep on trusting Him to the end just as we trusted Him at first. ¹⁵ The Holy Writings say, “If you hear His voice today, do not let your hearts become hard as your early fathers did when they turned against Me.” ^(B)

¹⁶ Who heard God’s voice and turned against Him? Did not all those who were led out of the country of Egypt by Moses? ¹⁷ Who made God angry for forty years? Was it not those people who had sinned in the desert? Was it not those who died and were buried there? ¹⁸ Who did He say could never go into His rest? Was it not those who did not obey Him? ¹⁹ So we can see that they were not able to go into His rest because they did not put their trust in Him.