Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
This psalm is a song to sing on Sabbath days.
A song to praise God
92 It is good to thank the Lord!
We sing to praise your name, Most High God.
2 We sing in the morning
to thank you for your faithful love.
We sing at night
to say that you are always faithful.
3 We make beautiful music
with lutes, harps and lyres.[a]
4 The things that you do, Lord,
make me very happy.
I sing with joy
because of the things that your hands have made!
5 Yes, Lord, you have done great things!
Your thoughts are more than we can understand!
6 Here is something that stupid people do not know.
Fools do not understand it.
7 Wicked people may continue to grow,
like green grass.
Evil people may grow like weeds.
But in the end you will destroy them
and they will never grow again.[b]
8 You, Lord, will rule as King for ever!
9 Yes, Lord, look at your enemies!
Your enemies will all die!
Those people who do evil things will all disappear!
10 You have made me as strong as a wild bull.
You have poured pure olive oil on me.[c]
11 With my own eyes,
I have seen my enemies fall.
With my own ears,
I have heard them cry out in pain.
12 Righteous people will do well,
like a palm tree that makes new leaves.
They will become strong,
like a tall cedar tree in Lebanon.
13 They are like trees that someone has planted in the Lord's house.
They grow well in the yard of our God's temple.
14 When they are old,
they will still give fruit!
They will always be strong,
with fresh, green leaves.
15 They will tell everyone,
‘The Lord always does what is right.
He is my strong, safe rock.
There is nothing bad in him.’
Blessings
28 Today I am giving you the commands of the Lord your God. You must be careful to obey all of them completely. If you do that, he will make you greater than any other nation of people in the world.
2 If you obey the Lord your God, he will bless you in very many ways.
3 God will bless you in your cities and in your fields.
4 God will bless your children and the crops that you grow. Your cows and your sheep will have many babies.
5 God will bless you with lots of grain to make bread.
6 God will bless you in your homes and when you go outside.
7 When your enemies attack you, the Lord will knock them down. They will come from one direction to attack you, but they will run away from you in seven different directions!
8 The Lord will bless you with lots of food to store. He will bless all the work that you do. He will bless you very much in the land that he is giving to you.
9 The Lord will continue to help you as his special people, as he has promised to do. But you must obey his commands. You must live in a way that pleases him. 10 If you do that, everyone in the world will see that you belong to the Lord. They will respect you with fear. 11 The Lord will give you many children. Your animals will have many babies. Your fields will give you a lot of food. The Lord will do this in the land that he promised your ancestors he would give you.
12 The Lord will send rain from the clouds where he stores it. He will cause the rain to fall at the time when the land needs it. He will bless all the work that you do. You will lend money to the people of many nations. But you will not need anyone to lend money to you. 13 The Lord will make you the leaders of other people. You will not have to follow at the back. You will become more powerful, not weaker. But you must obey the commands of the Lord your God. I am telling you today, you must be very careful to do that. 14 You must continue to obey all the commands that I am giving you today. Do not turn away from them to do anything else. Do not try to worship other gods.
Live in a way that pleases God
17 So I say this to you. I am sure that I have the Lord's authority to say it. You must not live any longer like the Gentile people who do not know God. They do whatever their silly ideas teach them to do. 18 They cannot understand God's true message because their minds are in the dark. They have not accepted the life that God gives. They have decided that they do not want to know about God. They do not even try to understand. 19 They do not feel ashamed when they do all kinds of disgusting things. They do more and more bad things just to please themselves.
20 But when you learned about Christ, you did not learn to do things like that! 21 I am sure that you have heard about him properly. People taught you the true message that comes from Jesus. 22 They taught you to change the way that you live. You must put away the nature that you had before. That old nature deceived you. As a result, you wanted to do things that would destroy you. 23 Instead, let God's Spirit make you think in a new way. 24 Take up the new nature that God has prepared for you. That nature is like God's own nature. Then you will live in a truly good way that pleases God.
25 So you must stop telling lies. Each of you must say only true things to one another. Remember that all of us belong to one another, like parts of the same body. 26 When you are angry, do not do anything bad as a result. Once the day comes to an end, do not continue to be angry. 27 Do not give the Devil a chance to hurt you like that.
28 Any of you who robbed people before must now stop taking things. Instead, you should work hard with your own hands. Then you will be able to share what you have with people who are poor.
29 Do not say bad things that hurt or insult people. Instead, say only good things that will help people. Your words should help people to become strong when they hear them.
30 Do not do anything that will make God's Holy Spirit sad. God gave his Holy Spirit to you to show that you belong to him. As a result you know that God will make you completely free one day.
31 Do not be jealous of other people. Do not become angry or shout at them. Do not quarrel with other people or insult them. Do not do anything or say anything that will hurt other people. 32 Instead, help one another and be kind to each other. Forgive one another. Remember that God has forgiven you because of what Christ has done.
Be very careful how you live
5 You are God's children and he loves you very much. So you must try to be like him. 2 Show that you love other people. Remember how much Christ loved us. He gave himself as a sacrifice on our behalf. He offered himself in a way that pleased God, like a sacrifice with a lovely smell.
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