Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Psalm. A song for the Sabbath Day
Praise and Thanksgiving to God
92 It is good to give thanks to the Lord
and to sing praise to your name, Most High;
2 to proclaim your gracious love in the morning
and your faithfulness at night,
3 accompanied by a ten-stringed instrument and a lyre,
and the contemplative sound of a harp.
4 Because you made me glad
with your awesome deeds, Lord,
I will sing for joy at the works of your hands.
5 How great are your works, Lord!
Your thoughts are unfathomable.[a]
6 A stupid man doesn’t know,
and a fool can’t comprehend this:
7 Though the wicked sprout like grass;
and all who practice iniquity flourish,
it is they who will be eternally destroyed.
8 But you are exalted forever, Lord.
9 Look at your enemies, Lord!
Look at your enemies, for they are destroyed;
everyone who practices iniquity will be scattered.[b]
10 You’ve grown my strength[c] like the horn of a wild ox;
I was anointed with fresh oil.
11 My eyes gloated over those who lie in wait for me;[d]
when those of evil intent attack me, my ears will hear.
12 The righteous will flourish like palm trees;
they will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Planted in the Lord’s Temple,
they will flourish in the courtyard of our God.
14 They will still bear fruit even in old age;[e]
they will be luxuriant and green.
15 They will proclaim: “The Lord is upright;
my rock, in whom there is no injustice.”
Rewards for Obedience
28 “Indeed, if you diligently obey[a] the Lord your God to carry out all his commands that I’m giving you today, then the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 Moreover, all these blessings will come upon you in abundance,[b] if you obey the Lord your God:
3 “Blessed will you be in the city and blessed will you be in the country.
4 “Blessed will your children[c] be, as well as the produce of your land, the offspring of your beasts and cattle, and the offspring of your flock.
5 “Blessed will be your grain[d] basket and your kneading bowl.
6 “Blessed will you be in your comings and goings.
7 “The Lord will make your enemies, who rise against you and attack from one direction, to flee from you in seven directions.
8 “The Lord will send blessings for you with regard to your barns and everything you undertake. Indeed, he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is about to give you.
9 “The Lord will assign you to be a holy people[e] for himself, just as he promised you, as long as you keep his[f] commands and walk in his ways.
10 “Then all the people of the earth will observe that the name of the Lord is proclaimed[g] among you, and they will fear you.
11 “The Lord will show his abundant goodness with respect to your children,[h] the offspring of your animals, and the produce of your farmland that he[i] promised your ancestors he would give you.
12 “The Lord will open his rich[j] treasury, the heavens, to release rain upon your land in season and bless everything you undertake so that you’ll lend to many nations but won’t borrow.
13 “The Lord your God will make you the head and not the tail—placing you above and not beneath—if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I’m giving you today to keep and observe. 14 Do not deviate from any of his commands that I’m giving you today—neither to the right nor the left—to follow and serve other gods.”
The Old Life and the New
17 Therefore, I tell you and insist on[a] in the Lord not to live any longer like the gentiles live, thinking worthless thoughts.[b] 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. 19 Since they have lost all sense of shame, they have abandoned themselves to sensuality and practice every kind of sexual perversion without restraint. 20 However, that is not the way you came to know the Messiah.[c] 21 Surely you have listened to him and have been taught by him, since truth is in Jesus. 22 Regarding your former way of life, you were taught[d] to strip off your old nature, which is being ruined by its deceptive desires, 23 to be renewed in your mental attitude, 24 and to clothe yourselves with the new nature, which was created according to God’s image[e] in righteousness and true holiness.
25 Therefore, stripping off falsehood, “let each of us speak the truth to his neighbor,”[f] for we belong to one another. 26 “Be angry, yet do not sin.”[g] Do not let the sun set while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the Devil an opportunity to work.[h] 28 The thief must no longer steal but must work hard and do what is good with his own hands, so that he might earn something to give to the needy.
29 Let no filthy talk be heard from your mouths, but only what is good for building up people and meeting the need of the moment.[i] This way you will administer grace to those who hear you. 30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, quarreling, and slander be put away from you, along with all hatred. 32 And be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another just as God has forgiven you[j] in the Messiah.[k]
5 So be imitators of God, as his dear children. 2 Live lovingly, just as the Messiah[l] also loved us[m] and gave himself for us as an offering and sacrifice, a fragrant aroma to God.
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