Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
8 “The Lord is merciful and compassionate,
very patient, and full of faithful love.
9 The Lord is good to everyone and everything;
God’s compassion extends to all his handiwork!”
10 All that you have made gives thanks to you, Lord;
all your faithful ones bless you!
11 They speak of the glory of your kingdom;
they talk all about your power,
12 to inform all human beings about God’s power
and the majestic glory of God’s kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is a kingship that lasts forever;
your rule endures for all generations.
The Lord is trustworthy in all that he says,
faithful in all that he does.[a]
14 The Lord supports all who fall down,
straightens up all who are bent low.
6 Look out; look out! Flee from the land of the north, says the Lord,
for I will scatter you like the four winds of heaven, says the Lord.
7 Look out, Zion.
Flee, you who dwell with Daughter Babylon!
8 The Lord of heavenly forces proclaims (after his glory sent me)[a]
concerning the nations plundering you:
Those who strike you strike the pupil of my eye.
9 But look, I am about to raise my hand against them;
they will become prey to their own slaves,
so you will know that the Lord of heavenly forces sent me.
10 Rejoice and be glad, Daughter Zion,
because I am about to come and dwell among you, says the Lord.
11 Many nations will be joined to the Lord on that day.
They will become my people,
and I will dwell among you
so you will know that the Lord of heavenly forces sent me to you.”
12 The Lord will possess Judah as his inheritance upon the holy land;
he will again choose Jerusalem.
13 Be silent, everyone, in the Lord’s
presence, because he has moved from his holy habitation!
The function of the Law
7 So what are we going to say? That the Law is sin? Absolutely not! But I wouldn’t have known sin except through the Law. I wouldn’t have known the desire for what others have if the Law had not said, Don’t desire to take what others have.[a] 8 But sin seized the opportunity and used this commandment to produce all kinds of desires in me. Sin is dead without the Law. 9 I used to be alive without the Law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life, 10 and I died. So the commandment that was intended to give life brought death. 11 Sin seized the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and killed me. 12 So the Law itself is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.
Living under the Law
13 So did something good bring death to me? Absolutely not! But sin caused my death through something good so that sin would be exposed as sin. That way sin would become even more thoroughly sinful through the commandment. 14 We know that the Law is spiritual, but I’m made of flesh and blood, and I’m sold as a slave to sin. 15 I don’t know what I’m doing, because I don’t do what I want to do. Instead, I do the thing that I hate. 16 But if I’m doing the thing that I don’t want to do, I’m agreeing that the Law is right. 17 But now I’m not the one doing it anymore. Instead, it’s sin that lives in me. 18 I know that good doesn’t live in me—that is, in my body. The desire to do good is inside of me, but I can’t do it. 19 I don’t do the good that I want to do, but I do the evil that I don’t want to do. 20 But if I do the very thing that I don’t want to do, then I’m not the one doing it anymore. Instead, it is sin that lives in me that is doing it.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible