Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
David wrote this song for the music leader.
God has helped me[a]
40 I was patient while I waited for the Lord to help me.
He turned towards me,
and he heard me when I called to him.
2 He lifted me out of the deep hole of danger.
He picked me up out of the mud.
He put my feet on a rock.
Then I could walk and not slip.
3 He gave me a new song to sing.
It was a song to praise our God.
Many people will see what God has done to help me.
Then they will respect and obey him.
Yes, they will trust in the Lord.
4 If anyone trusts in the Lord
he blesses them!
They do not expect proud people to help them.
They do not join with those people who worship false gods.
5 Lord, my God, you have done many great things.
You have done so many things for us
that we cannot count them!
There is nobody else like you!
I want to talk about the things that you have done,
but there are too many things to speak about!
6 You do not really want sacrifices and offerings.
I understand that!
You do not ask for burnt offerings
or sin offerings.
7 Then I said, ‘Here I am, my God!
The message that is written in the book
tells me what I must do.[b]
8 I want to do what pleases you.
Your law is always in my thoughts.’
25 If a woman is bleeding for more than seven days, she is unclean. She is unclean all the time that she is bleeding. 26 The bed that the woman lies on becomes unclean. Anything that the woman sits on is unclean. 27 If another person touches the chair, he becomes unclean. He must wash his clothes and his body. He will be unclean until evening. If another person touches the bed, he will also become unclean. He must wash his clothes and his body. He will be unclean until evening.
28 When the woman stops bleeding, she must count seven days. Then she will be clean. 29 On the eighth day, she must take two birds to the door of the Tent of Meeting. They must be doves or pigeons. She must give them to the priest. He will sacrifice one bird for her sin and he will burn the other. 30 He will kill them as an atonement to the Lord. Then the woman will be clean.
31 The tabernacle is God's house. It is among Israel's people. The priests must keep the people away from anything that makes them unclean. If they are not clean, they will make the Tent of Meeting unclean. So they will die.’
22 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Israel's people give gifts to God. Those gifts are holy. Tell Aaron and his sons that those things are holy. Tell them that they must remember that. They must give honour to my name. I am the Lord.
3 One of your sons may not be clean. That son must not come near the Lord's holy offerings. But perhaps he may not obey my rule. He might go near to the holy gifts. The priests who are clean must punish him. They must send him away. He must go from God's house. I am the Lord. This rule is for now and for all time. 4 If a son of Aaron has a skin disease, he must not eat the holy gifts. If pus is coming from his body, he is not clean. He must not eat the holy offerings until he is clean. He might touch something that has touched a dead body. Or if he touches an unclean man, he will become unclean. The man may be unclean because semen is coming from his body. 5 Aaron's son might touch an animal that moves on its stomach. Or he might touch a person who is not clean. If he does, Aaron's son will be unclean. 6 The son of Aaron who touches any of these things will be unclean until evening. He must not eat any of the holy gifts until he washes his body. 7 When the sun goes down, he will be clean. He can eat the holy gifts. They are his food. 8 He might find something that is dead. He must not eat it. He must not eat anything that an animal has torn. It will make him unclean. I am the Lord.
9 Aaron's sons must obey God's rules. If they do not obey them, it is a sin. They will die. I am the Lord who makes people holy.
Believers belong to God
14 Do not become united with people who do not believe in Christ. God has made you right with himself. Right and wrong cannot work together. Light and dark cannot join together. 15 Christ will never agree with the Devil. People who believe in Christ are completely different from people who do not believe. 16 Idols do not belong in God's house. Remember that we believers are the house of the God who lives for ever. This is what God has said:
‘I will make my home with them and I will live among them.
I will be their God and they will be my people.’[a]
17 And so, the Lord says:
‘Come out from among them and be separate.
Do not touch anything that is disgusting.
Then I will accept you.’[b]
18 He also says:
‘I will be a Father to you.
You will be my sons and my daughters.
That is what the Almighty Lord God says.’[c]
Paul loves the believers at Corinth
7 So, my friends, God has promised these things to us. So we must keep ourselves clean from everything that makes our bodies or our spirits unclean. We must respect and obey God. Then we will become more and more like him.
2 Be friends with us. We have done nothing wrong to any of you. We have not hurt anyone. We have not cheated anyone.
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