Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Praise for the Lord’s Goodness.
A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath day.
92 It is a good and delightful thing to give thanks to the Lord,
To sing praises to Your name, O Most High,
2
To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning
And Your faithfulness by night,
3
With an instrument of ten strings and with the harp,
With a solemn sound on the lyre.
4
For You, O Lord, have made me glad by Your works;
At the works of Your hands I joyfully sing.
5
How great are Your works, O Lord!
Your thoughts are very deep [beyond man’s understanding].
6
A senseless man [in his crude and uncultivated state] knows nothing,
Nor does a [self-righteous] fool understand this:
7
That though the wicked sprout up like grass
And all evildoers flourish,
They will be destroyed forever.
8
But You, Lord, are on high forever.
9
For behold, Your enemies, O Lord,
For behold, Your enemies will perish;
All who do evil will be scattered.
10
But my horn [my emblem of strength and power] You have exalted like that of a wild ox;
I am anointed with fresh oil [for Your service].
11
My eye has looked on my foes;
My ears hear of the evildoers who rise up against me.
12
The righteous will flourish like the date palm [long-lived, upright and useful];
They will grow like a cedar in Lebanon [majestic and stable].
13
Planted in the house of the Lord,
They will flourish in the courts of our God.
14
[Growing in grace] they will still thrive and bear fruit and prosper in old age;
They will flourish and be [a]vital and fresh [rich in trust and love and contentment];
15
[They are living memorials] to declare that the Lord is upright and faithful [to His promises];
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.(A)
3 If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments and [obediently] do them, 4 then I will give you rain in its season, and the land will yield her produce and the trees of the field bear their fruit. 5 And your threshing season will last until grape gathering and the grape gathering [time] will last until planting, and you will eat your bread and be filled and live securely in your land. 6 I will also grant peace in the land, so that you may lie down and there will be no one to make you afraid. I will also eliminate harmful animals from the land, and no sword will pass through your land. 7 And you will chase your enemies, and they will fall before you by the sword. 8 Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will put ten thousand to flight; your enemies will fall before you by the sword. 9 For I will turn toward you [with favor and regard] and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will establish and confirm My covenant with you.(A) 10 You will eat the old supply of [abundant] produce, and clear out the old [to make room] for the new. 11 I will make My dwelling among you, and My soul will not reject nor separate itself from you. 12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people. 13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you would not be their slaves; and I broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk upright [with heads held high as free men].
Penalties of Disobedience
14 ‘But if you do not obey Me and do not [obediently] do all these commandments, 15 if, instead, you reject My statutes, and if your soul rejects My ordinances, so that you will not [obediently] do all My commandments, and in this way break My covenant, 16 I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you sudden terror, consumption, and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to languish also. And you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat what you plant. 17 I will set My face against you so that [a]you will be struck down before your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one is pursuing you.(B) 18 If in spite of all this you still will not listen to Me and be obedient, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. 19 I will break your pride in your power, and I will make your sky like iron [giving no rain and blocking all prayers] and your ground like bronze [hard to plow and yielding no produce].(C) 20 Your strength will be spent uselessly, for your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit.
Sanctification and Love
4 Finally, believers, we ask and admonish you in the Lord Jesus, that you follow the instruction that you received from us about how you ought to walk and please God (just as you are actually doing) and that you excel even more and more [pursuing a life of purpose and living in a way that expresses gratitude to God for your salvation]. 2 For you know what commandments and precepts we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, that you be sanctified [separated and set apart from sin]: that you abstain and back away from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor [being available for God’s purpose and separated from things profane], 5 not [to be used] in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God and are ignorant of His will; 6 and that [in this matter of sexual misconduct] no man shall transgress and defraud his brother because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we have told you before and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness [to be dedicated, and set apart by behavior that pleases Him, whether in public or in private]. 8 So whoever rejects and disregards this is not [merely] rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you [to dwell in you and empower you to overcome temptation].
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