Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
15 “See, I am setting before you[a] today[b] life and prosperity and death and disaster; 16 what I am commanding you today[c] is to love Yahweh your God by going[d] in his ways and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his regulations, and then you will live, and you will become numerous, and Yahweh your God will bless you in the land where you are going.[e] 17 However, if your heart turns aside and you do not listen and you are lured away and you bow down to other gods and you serve them, 18 I declare to you today[f] that you will certainly perish; you will not extend your time[g] on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to go there to take possession of it. 19 I invoke as a witness against you today[h] the heaven and the earth: life and death I have set before you,[i] blessing and curse. So choose life, so that you may live, you and your offspring,[j] 20 by loving Yahweh your God by listening to his voice and by clinging to him, for he is your life and the length of your days in order for you to live on the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors,[k] to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them.”
The Ways of the Righteous and the Wicked
1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the advice of the wicked;
nor does he stand in the way of sinners;
nor does he sit in the assembly of mockers.
2 Instead, in the law of Yahweh is his delight,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 And so, he is like a tree planted by streams of water
that gives its fruit in its season;
its leaf also does not wither.
Therefore all that he does prospers.
4 Not so the wicked.
Instead, they are like the chaff that the wind scatters.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for Yahweh knows the way of the righteous,[a]
but the way of the wicked will perish.
Greeting
1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon, our dear friend and fellow worker, 2 and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house. 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving and Prayer for Philemon
4 I thank my God, always making mention of you in my prayers, 5 because I[a] hear about your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints. 6 I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective in the knowledge of every good thing that is in us for Christ. 7 For I have great joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.
Paul’s Appeal for Onesimus
8 Therefore, although I[b] have great confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper, 9 instead I appeal to you because of love, since I[c] am such a one as Paul, now an old man and also a prisoner of Christ Jesus. 10 I am appealing to you concerning my child whom I became the father of during my imprisonment, Onesimus. 11 Once he was useless to you, but now he is useful to you[d] and to me, 12 whom I have sent back to you himself, that is, my heart, 13 whom I wanted to keep with me, in order that he might serve me on behalf of you during my imprisonment for the gospel. 14 But apart from your consent, I wanted to do nothing, in order that your good deed might be not as according to necessity, but according to your own free will. 15 For perhaps because of this, he was separated from you for a time, in order that you might have him back forever, 16 no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
Paul’s Request to Philemon
17 If therefore you consider me a partner, receive him as you would me. 18 But if in anything he has caused you loss or owes you anything, charge this to my account[e]. 19 I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will pay it back, lest I mention to you that you owe me even your very self besides[f]. 20 Yes, brother, I ought to have some benefit of you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ.
21 Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you because I[g] know that you will do even beyond what I say.
The Cost of Discipleship
25 Now large crowds were going along with him, and he turned around and[a] said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and furthermore, even his own life, he cannot be[b] my disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow[c] me cannot be[d] my disciple. 28 For which of you, wanting to build a tower, does not first sit down and[e] calculate the cost to see if he has enough[f] to complete it?[g] 29 Otherwise[h] after[i] he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish it,[j] all who see it[k] will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish!’ 31 Or what king, going out to engage another king in battle, does not sit down first and[l] deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand. 32 But if not, while[m] the other is still far away, he sends an ambassador and[n] asks for terms of[o] peace. 33 In the same way, therefore, every one of you who does not renounce all his own possessions cannot be[p] my disciple.
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