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.
22 “The Lord spoke these words to you while you were all gathered at the mountain. He spoke with a loud voice from the center of the fire, the cloud and the darkness. He added no more. And He wrote them on two pieces of stone and gave them to me.
The People Are Afraid
23 “When you heard the voice from the center of the darkness while the mountain burned with fire, you came to me with all the heads of your families and your leaders. 24 And you said, ‘See, the Lord our God has shown us His shining-greatness. We have heard His voice from the center of the fire. Today we have seen that God speaks with man and man still lives. 25 But why should we die now? For this big fire will burn us up. If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we will die. 26 For who of all flesh has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking from the center of the fire, as we have heard, and lived? 27 Go near and hear all the Lord our God says. Then tell us all the Lord our God says to you, and we will listen and do it.’
28 “The Lord heard what you said when you spoke to me. And the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the words which the people have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have said. 29 If only they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and live by all My Laws always! Then it would go well with them and with their children forever. 30 Go and say to them, “Return to your tents.” 31 But you stand here by Me. And I will tell you all the Laws which you should teach them, so they may keep them in the land I give them for their own.’ 32 Be careful to do just as the Lord your God has told you. Do not turn aside to the right or to the left. 33 Walk in all the way the Lord your God has told you. Then you may live, it may be well with you, and you may live a long time in the land that will belong to you.
The Christian’s Rest
4 The same promise of going into God’s rest is still for us. But we should be afraid that some of us may not be able to go in. 2 We have heard the Good News even as they did, but it did them no good because it was not mixed with faith. 3 We who have put our trust in God go into His rest. God said this of our early fathers, “I was angry and said, ‘They will not go into My rest.’”(A) And yet God’s work was finished after He made the world.
God’s Rest
4 In the Holy Writings He said this about the seventh day when He made the whole world, “God rested on the seventh day from all He had made.” (B) 5 But God said this about those who turned against Him, “They will not go into My rest.” (C) 6 Those who heard the Good News first did not go into His rest. It was because they had not obeyed Him. But the promise is still good and some are going into His rest. 7 God has again set a certain day for people to go into His rest. He says through David many years later as He had said before, “If you hear His voice today, do not let your hearts become hard.” (D)
8 If Joshua had led those people into God’s rest, He would not have told of another day after that. 9 And so God’s people have a complete rest waiting for them. 10 The man who goes into God’s rest, rests from his own work the same as God rested from His work. 11 Let us do our best to go into that rest or we will be like the people who did not go in.
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