Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The Greatest Command
6 “This is the command—the statutes and ordinances—the Lord your God has instructed me to teach you, so that you may follow them in the land you are about to enter and possess.(A) 2 Do this so that you may fear(B) the Lord your God all the days of your life by keeping all His statutes and commands I am giving you, your son, and your grandson, and so that you may have a long life. 3 Listen, Israel, and be careful to follow them, so that you may prosper and multiply greatly, because Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you a land flowing with milk and honey.(C)
4 “Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One.[a](D) 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.(E) 6 These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart.(F) 7 Repeat them to your children.(G) Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol[b] on your forehead.[c](H) 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Psalm 119
Delight in God’s Word
א Alef
1 How[a] happy are those whose way is blameless,(A)
who live according to the Lord’s instruction!(B)
2 Happy are those who keep His decrees(C)
and seek Him with all their heart.(D)
3 They do nothing wrong;(E)
they follow His ways.
4 You have commanded that Your precepts(F)
be diligently kept.
5 If only my ways were committed
to keeping Your statutes!(G)
6 Then I would not be ashamed(H)
when I think about all Your commands.
7 I will praise You with a sincere heart(I)
when I learn Your righteous judgments.
8 I will keep Your statutes;
never abandon me.(J)
New Covenant Ministry
11 But the Messiah has appeared, high priest of the good things that have come.[a] In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation(A)), 12 He entered the most holy place once for all, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.(B) 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow, sprinkling those who are defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,(C) 14 how much more will the blood of the Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit(D) offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse our[b] consciences from dead works to serve the living God?(E)
The Primary Commands
28 One(A) of the scribes(B) approached. When he heard them debating and saw that Jesus answered them well, he asked Him, “Which command is the most important of all?”[a]
29 “This is the most important,”[b] Jesus answered:
Listen, Israel! The Lord(C) our God, the Lord(D) is One.[c] 30 Love(E) the Lord your God(F) with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind,(G) and with all your strength.[d](H)[e]
31 “The second is: Love your neighbor(I) as yourself.(J)[f] There is no other command(K) greater than these.”
32 Then the scribe said to Him, “You are right, Teacher! You have correctly said that He is One, and there is no one(L) else except Him.(M) 33 And to love(N) Him with all your heart, with all your understanding,[g] and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, is far more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.”(O)
34 When Jesus saw that he answered intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”(P) And no one dared(Q) to question Him any longer.
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