Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

BOOK I

(Psalms 1–41)

Psalm 1

^2 [a] Moses summoned all Israel, saying to them:

You’ve seen with your own eyes everything the Lord did in Egypt, to Pharaoh, his servants, and all his land— ³ the great trials your eyes witnessed, those awesome signs and wonders! ⁴ But until this very moment, the Lord hasn’t given you insight to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear. ⁵ I’ve led you in the wilderness forty years now; neither the clothes on your back nor the sandals on your feet have worn out. ⁶ Neither have you eaten bread nor drunk wine or beer during this time—so that you would know that I am the Lord your God.^{[b] 7} When you arrived here, Sihon, Heshbon’s king, and Og, Bashan’s king, marched out to fight against us, but we defeated them. ⁸ We took possession of their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, Gadites, and half of Manasseh’s tribe. ⁹ So then keep the words of this covenant and do them so you can succeed in all you do.

¹⁰ Right now, all of you are in the presence of the Lord your God—the leaders of your tribes,^[c] your elders, and your officials, all the Israelite males, ¹¹ your children, your wives, and the immigrants who live with you in your camp, the ones who chop your wood and those who draw your water— ¹² ready to enter into the Lord your God’s covenant and into the agreement that the Lord your God is making with you right now. ¹³ That means the Lord will make you his own people right now—he will be your God just as he promised you and just as he swore to our ancestors: to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ¹⁴ But I’m not making this covenant and this agreement with you alone ¹⁵ but also with those standing here with us right now before the Lord our God, and also with those who aren’t here with us right now.

¹⁶ You know firsthand how we used to live in Egypt and how we passed right through the nations that you passed through. ¹⁷ You saw the horrific things, the filthy idols of wood and stone, silver and gold, that they had with them. ¹⁸ Make sure there isn’t any one among you right now—male or female, clan or tribe—whose mind is turning from being with the Lord our God in favor of going to serve these nations’ gods. Make sure there isn’t any root among you that is sprouting poison and bitterness. ¹⁹ When that kind of person hears the words of this agreement, they congratulate themselves, thinking: I’ll be fine even though I insist on being stubborn. This would cause something wet to dry up and become like something parched.^{[d] 20} The Lord won’t be willing to forgive that kind of person; instead, the Lord’s anger and passion will smolder against that person. Every curse written in this scroll will stretch out over them, and the Lord will wipe out their name from under the heavens.

Trouble in the family

³⁴ “Don’t think that I’ve come to bring peace to the earth. I haven’t come to bring peace but a sword. ³⁵ I’ve come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. ³⁶ People’s enemies are members of their own households.^[a]

³⁷ “Those who love father or mother more than me aren’t worthy of me. Those who love son or daughter more than me aren’t worthy of me. ³⁸ Those who don’t pick up their crosses and follow me aren’t worthy of me. ³⁹ Those who find their lives will lose them, and those who lose their lives because of me will find them.

Rewards

⁴⁰ “Those who receive you are also receiving me, and those who receive me are receiving the one who sent me. ⁴¹ Those who receive a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. Those who receive a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. ⁴² I assure you that everybody who gives even a cup of cold water to these little ones because they are my disciples will certainly be rewarded.”