Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Prayer for God’s Help in Maintaining Integrity
A psalm of David.[a]
141 I call on you, O Yahweh; hasten to me.
Listen to my voice when I call to you.
2 Let my prayer be set before you as incense,
the lifting up of my palms as the evening offering.
3 Set a guard, O Yahweh, over my mouth;
keep watch over the door of my lips.
4 Do not incline my heart to any evil thing,
to practice wicked deeds
with men who do iniquity;
and do not let me eat of their delicacies.
5 Let a righteous one strike me in kindness,
and let him chasten me.
It is oil for my head;[b] let not my head refuse.
For still my prayer is against their evil deeds.
6 When their judges are thrown down the sides of a cliff,[c]
then they will understand that my words were pleasant.
7 As when one plows and breaks up the earth,
so our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.
8 But[d] my eyes are toward you, O Yahweh, my Lord;
I have taken refuge in you. Do not lay bare my soul.[e]
9 Protect me from the grasp[f] of the trap they have laid for me,
and from the snares of evildoers.
10 Let the wicked fall into their[g] nets,
while I escape altogether.
14 And the word of Yahweh came[a] to me, saying,[b] 15 “Son of man,[c] your brothers, your brothers, the men of your redemption, and all of the house of Israel, all of it, who said concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem,[d] ‘They are far from Yahweh, therefore to us this land was given as a possession.’ 16 Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Though I have removed them far away among the nations and though I have scattered them among the countries, yet I was a sanctuary to them for a little while in the countries to which they have gone.’”[e] 17 Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “And I will assemble you from the peoples, and I will gather you from the countries to which you were scattered among them, and I will give the land of Israel to you. 18 And when they come there, then they will remove all of its vile idols and all of its detestable things from it. 19 And I will give to them one heart, and a new spirit I will give[f] in their inner parts. And I will remove their[g] heart of stone from their body, and I will give to them a heart of flesh, 20 so that they may walk in my statutes, and they will keep my regulations, and they will do them, and they will be to me a people, and I myself will be to them as God. 21 But to[h] the heart of their abominations and the detestable things their heart is going. I will bring their way on their head,” declares[i] the Lord Yahweh.’”
22 Then[j] the cherubim lifted up their wings, and their[k] wheels were beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.[l] 23 And the glory of Yahweh went up from the midst of the city, and it stood still on the mountain that is to the east of the city. 24 And the Spirit lifted me up, and it brought me to Chaldea, to the exiles,[m] in the vision by the spirit of God; and the vision that I had seen left me.[n] 25 And I spoke to the exiles[o] all of the words of Yahweh that he had shown me.
Old Behavior, New Behavior, and Motivation
25 Therefore, putting aside the lie, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor,[a] because we are members of one another. 26 Be angry and do not sin;[b] do not let the sun set on your anger, 27 nor give place to the devil. 28 The one who steals must steal no longer, but instead must labor, working with his own hands what is good, so that he may have something to share with the one who has need. 29 No rotten word must proceed[c] from your mouth, but only something good for the building up of the need, in order that it may give grace to those who hear, 30 and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 All bitterness, and rage, and wrath, and clamor, and abusive speech, must be removed from you, together with all wickedness. 32 Become[d] kind toward one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as also God in Christ has forgiven you.
Imitators of God
5 Therefore become imitators of God, as beloved children, 2 and live in love, just as also Christ loved us, and gave himself for us an offering and sacrifice to God for a fragrant smell.[e]
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