Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Book 1
Psalms 1—41
Two Ways to Live
1 Happy is the person who doesn’t listen to the wicked.
He doesn’t go where sinners go.
He doesn’t do what bad people do.
2 He loves the Lord’s teachings.
He thinks about those teachings day and night.
3 He is strong, like a tree planted by a river.
It produces fruit in season.
Its leaves don’t die.
Everything he does will succeed.
4 But wicked people are not like that.
They are like useless chaff
that the wind blows away.
5 So the wicked will not escape God’s punishment.
Sinners will not worship God with good people.
6 This is because the Lord protects good people.
But the wicked will be destroyed.
2 Moses called all the Israelites together. And he said to them:
You have seen everything the Lord did to the king of Egypt. You saw what he did to the king’s leaders and to the whole country. 3 With your own eyes you saw the great troubles, signs and miracles. 4 But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind that understands. You don’t really understand what you see with your eyes or hear with your ears. 5 The Lord led you through the desert for 40 years. During that time neither your clothes nor sandals wore out. 6 You ate no bread. You drank no wine or beer. This was so you would understand that he is the Lord your God.
7 You came to this place. Then Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out to fight us. But we defeated them. 8 We captured their land. And we gave it to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the eastern half-tribe of Manasseh to own.
9 You must carefully obey everything in this agreement. Then you will succeed in everything you do. 10 Today you are all standing here before the Lord your God. Here are your leaders and important men. Your elders, officers and all the other men of Israel are here. 11 Here are your wives and children and the foreigners who live among you. They chop your wood and carry your water. 12 You are all here to enter into an agreement and a promise with the Lord your God. The Lord is making this agreement with you today. 13 This will make you today the Lord’s own people. He will be your God. This is what he told you. He promised it to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 14 But the Lord is not just making this agreement and its promises with you. 15 You are standing here before the Lord your God today. But he is also making it with those who are not here today.
16 You know how we lived in Egypt. You know how we passed through the countries when we came here. 17 You saw their hated idols made of wood, stone, silver and gold. 18 Make sure no man, woman, family group or tribe among you leaves the Lord. Don’t let them go and serve the gods of those nations. That would be like a plant that grows bitter, poisonous fruit.
19 That kind of person might hear these curses. But he blesses himself. And he thinks, “I will be safe. I will continue doing what I want to do.” That person might destroy all of your land, both wet and dry. 20 The Lord will not forgive that person. His anger will be like a burning fire against that man. All the curses written in this book will come on him. And the Lord will destroy any memory of him on the earth.
34 “Don’t think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 I have come to make this happen:
‘A son will be against his father,
a daughter will be against her mother,
a daughter-in-law will be against her mother-in-law.
36 A person’s enemies will be members of his own family.’ Micah 7:6
37 “Whoever loves his father or mother more than he loves me is not worthy to be my follower. Whoever loves his son or daughter more than he loves me is not worthy to be my follower. 38 Whoever is not willing to die on a cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever tries to hold on to his life will give up true life. Whoever gives up his life for me will hold on to true life. 40 Whoever accepts you also accepts me. And whoever accepts me also accepts the One who sent me. 41 Whoever meets a prophet and accepts him will receive the reward of a prophet. And whoever accepts a good man because that man is good will receive the reward of a good man. 42 Whoever helps one of these little ones because they are my followers will truly get his reward. He will get his reward even if he only gave my follower a cup of cold water.”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.