Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
8 [a]The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.[b]
9 The Lord is good to all,
showing compassion to every creature.
10 All your creatures praise you,[c] O Lord,
and all your saints bless you.
11 They relate the glory of your kingdom
and tell of all your power.[d]
12 They make known to all people your mighty deeds
and the glorious majesty of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom will last forever,
and your dominion will endure throughout all generations.[e]
[f]The Lord is faithful in all his promises
and kind[g] in all his deeds.
14 The Lord supports all those who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.[h]
6 When I asked him, “Where are you going?” he replied, “To measure Jerusalem, to discover what is its width and what is its length.”
7 When the angel who was talking to me walked away, another angel came out to meet him 8 and said to him, “Run and tell that young man: Jerusalem will remain without walls because of the great multitude of men and animals dwelling there. 9 But I will be a wall of fire all around it, says the Lord. And I will be the glory within it.”
10 Up, up! Flee from the land of the north,
says the Lord.
For I have scattered you to the four winds of heaven,
says the Lord.
11 Away, away! Escape to Zion,
you who presently live in daughter Babylon.
12 For thus said the Lord of hosts
after he sent me forth,
in regard to the nations that plundered you:
Whoever touches you
touches the apple of my eye.
13 Behold, I will wave my hand over them,
and they will be plunder
for those they have enslaved.
Thus you will know
that the Lord of hosts has sent me.
The Function of the Law.[a] 7 What then should we say? That the Law is sinful? Absolutely not! Yet if it had not been for the Law, I would not have known what sin was. I would not have known what covet is if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin seized the opportunity offered by the commandment and produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the Law, sin is dead.
9 I lived apart from the Law, but when the commandment came, sin came to life, 10 and I died. The commandment that was for life proved to be death for me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity offered by the commandment, deceived me,[b] and through it killed me. 12 And so the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.
13 Did what is good, then, cause my death? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as such, it brought about my death through what is good, and therefore through the commandment sin became completely sinful.
14 Sin and Death. We clearly understand that the Law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin. 15 I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want; rather, I do what I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, then I agree that the Law is good.[c] 17 This indicates that it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot do what is good. 19 For I do not do the good I desire; rather, it is the evil I do not desire that I end up doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not desire, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
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