Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Book One

Psalm 1^[a]

¹ Blessed (happy, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly [following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands [submissive and inactive] in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where the scornful [and the mockers] gather.

² But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night.^(A)

³ And he shall be like a tree firmly planted [and tended] by the streams of water, ready to bring forth its fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not fade or wither; and everything he does shall prosper [and come to maturity].^(B)

⁴ Not so the wicked [those disobedient and living without God are not so]. But they are like the chaff [worthless, dead, without substance] which the wind drives away.

⁵ Therefore the wicked [those disobedient and living without God] shall not stand [justified] in the judgment, nor ^[b]sinners in the congregation of the righteous [those who are upright and in right standing with God].

⁶ For the Lord knows and is fully acquainted with the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly [those living outside God’s will] shall perish (end in ruin and come to nought).

² Moses called to all Israel and said to them, You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his servants, and to all his land;

³ The great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders.

⁴ Yet the Lord has not given you a [mind and] heart to understand and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this day.

⁵ I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes have not worn out upon you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet.

⁶ You have not eaten [grain] bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink, that you might recognize and know [your dependence on Him Who is saying], I am the Lord your God.

⁷ And when you came to this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us to battle, but we defeated them.

⁸ We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites.

⁹ Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may deal wisely and prosper in all that you do.

¹⁰ All of you stand today before the Lord your God—your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel,

¹¹ Your little ones, your wives, and the stranger and sojourner in your camp, from the hewer of your wood to the drawer of your water—

¹² That you may enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, and into His oath which He makes with you today,

¹³ That He may establish you this day as a people for Himself, and that He may be to you a God as He said to you and as He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

¹⁴ It is not with you only that I make this sworn covenant

¹⁵ But with future Israelites who do not stand here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as with those who are here with us this day.

¹⁶ You know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we came through the midst of the nations you crossed.

¹⁷ And you have seen their abominations and their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them.

¹⁸ Beware lest there should be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose [mind and] heart turns away this day from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a [poisonous] root that bears gall and wormwood,

¹⁹ And lest, when he hears the words of this curse and oath, he flatters and congratulates himself in his [mind and] heart, saying, I shall have peace and safety, ^[a]though I walk in the stubbornness of my [mind and] heart [bringing down a hurricane of destruction] and sweep away the watered land with the dry.

²⁰ The Lord will not pardon him, but then the anger of the Lord and His jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall settle on him; the Lord will blot out his very name from under the heavens.

³⁴ Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

³⁵ For I have come to part asunder a man from his father, and a daughter from her mother, and a ^[a]newly married wife from her mother-in-law—

³⁶ And a man’s foes will be they of his own household.^(A)

³⁷ He who loves [and ^[b]takes more pleasure in] father or mother more than [in] Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves [and takes more pleasure in] son or daughter more than [in] Me is not worthy of Me;

³⁸ And he who does not take up his cross and follow Me [^[c]cleave steadfastly to Me, conforming wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also] is not worthy of Me.

³⁹ Whoever finds his [^[d]lower] life will lose it [the higher life], and whoever loses his [lower] life on My account will find it [the higher life].

⁴⁰ He who receives and welcomes and accepts you receives and welcomes and accepts Me, and he who receives and welcomes and accepts Me receives and welcomes and accepts Him Who sent Me.

⁴¹ He who receives and welcomes and accepts a prophet because he is a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward, and he who receives and welcomes and accepts a righteous man because he is a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.

⁴² And whoever gives to one of these little ones [in rank or influence] even a cup of cold water because he is My disciple, surely I declare to you, he shall not lose his reward.