Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
By David.
103 Praise the Lord, my soul!
Praise his holy name, all that is within me.
2 Praise the Lord, my soul,
and never forget all the good he has done:
3 He is the one who forgives all your sins,
the one who heals all your diseases,
4 the one who rescues your life from the pit,
the one who crowns you with mercy and compassion,
5 the one who fills your life with blessings
so that you become young again like an eagle.
6 The Lord does what is right and fair
for all who are oppressed.
7 He let Moses know his ways.
He let the Israelites know the things he had done.
8 The Lord is compassionate, merciful, patient,
and always ready to forgive.
A Man Breaks the Rules for the Day of Rest
32 While the Israelites were in the desert, they found a man gathering wood on the day of rest—a holy day. 33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole community. 34 They kept him in custody until they decided what to do with him.
35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “This man must be put to death. The whole community must take him outside the camp and stone him.” 36 So the whole community took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses.
The Israelites Are Commanded to Wear Tassels
37 The Lord said to Moses, 38 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: For generations to come they must wear tassels on the corners of their clothes with violet threads in each tassel. 39 Whenever you look at the threads in the tassel, you will remember all the Lord’s commands and obey them. Then you won’t do whatever you want and go after whatever you see, as if you were chasing after prostitutes. 40 You will remember to obey all my commands, and you will be holy to your God. 41 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.”
3 Think about Jesus, who endured opposition from sinners, so that you don’t become tired and give up.
4 You struggle against sin, but your struggles haven’t killed you. 5 You have forgotten the encouraging words that God speaks to you as his children:
“My child, pay attention when the Lord disciplines you.
Don’t give up when he corrects you.
6 The Lord disciplines everyone he loves.
He severely disciplines everyone he accepts as his child.”
7 Endure your discipline. God corrects you as a father corrects his children. All children are disciplined by their fathers. 8 If you aren’t disciplined like the other children, you aren’t part of the family. 9 On earth we have fathers who disciplined us, and we respect them. Shouldn’t we place ourselves under the authority of God, the father of spirits, so that we will live? 10 For a short time our fathers disciplined us as they thought best. Yet, God disciplines us for our own good so that we can become holy like him. 11 We don’t enjoy being disciplined. It always seems to cause more pain than joy. But later on, those who learn from that discipline have peace that comes from doing what is right.
12 Strengthen your tired arms and weak knees. 13 Keep walking along straight paths so that your injured leg won’t get worse. Instead, let it heal.
14 Try to live peacefully with everyone, and try to live holy lives, because if you don’t, you will not see the Lord. 15 Make sure that everyone has kindness [a] from God so that bitterness doesn’t take root and grow up to cause trouble that corrupts many of you. 16 Make sure that no one commits sexual sin or is as concerned about earthly things as Esau was. He sold his rights as the firstborn son for a single meal. 17 You know that afterwards, when he wanted to receive the blessing that the firstborn son was to receive, he was rejected. Even though he begged and cried for the blessing, he couldn’t do anything to change what had happened.
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