Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
8 The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.(A)
9 The Lord is good to all,
and his compassion is over all that he has made.(B)
10 All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,
and all your faithful shall bless you.(C)
11 They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom
and tell of your power,
12 to make known to all people your[a] mighty deeds
and the glorious splendor of your[b] kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures throughout all generations.
Interlude: An Appeal to the Exiles
6 Up, up! Flee from the land of the north, says the Lord, for I have spread you abroad like the four winds of heaven, says the Lord.(A) 7 Up! Escape to Zion, you who live with daughter Babylon. 8 For thus said the Lord of hosts after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you: Truly, one who touches you touches the apple of my eye.[a](B) 9 For I am going to raise[b] my hand against them, and they shall become plunder for their own slaves. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me.(C) 10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! For I will come and dwell in your midst, says the Lord.(D) 11 Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord on that day and shall be my people, and I will dwell in your midst. And you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. 12 The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem.(E)
13 Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.(F)
The Law and Sin
7 What then are we to say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”(A) 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law sin lies dead.(B) 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived 10 and I died, and the very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.(C) 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.(D)
13 Did what is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin that was working death in me through what is good, in order that it might be shown to be sin, so that through the commandment sin might become sinful beyond measure.
The Inner Conflict
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin.[a] 15 I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.(E) 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. 17 But in fact it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that the good does not dwell within me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do the good lies close at hand, but not the ability.(F) 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.