Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
TETH
65 Lord, you have blessed me, your servant,
as you have promised to do.
66 Teach me to understand what is right,
because I trust your commands.
67 Before you showed me what was right, I made mistakes,
but now I obey your teaching.
68 You are good and you do good things.
So please teach me your laws.
69 Proud people have told many lies against me,
but I love to obey your rules.
70 Those people do not understand anything,
but your Law makes me very happy.
71 When I suffered, it was good for me.
It helped me to learn your commands.
72 The rules that you have taught me are very valuable.
They are more valuable to me
than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.
27 One of the people might do bad things when he did not really want to do them. He did not obey one of the Lord's rules. That person has sinned. 28 They will tell him that he has done bad things. Then he must give a female goat to God. The animal must be perfect. 29 He must put his hand on the goat's head. Then he must kill it by the altar of burnt offering. 30 The priest will put his finger in the blood of the goat. He will put some of it on the altar's corners. He will pour out the blood that he did not use. He will pour it onto the ground in front of the altar. 31 The priest will cut all the fat from the goat as he did with the friendship offering. And he will burn it on the altar. This will make atonement for the wrong things that the person has done. The smell of it while it is burning will give the Lord pleasure. Then the Lord will forgive the person.
The gift to the Lord when a person does wrong things
14 The Lord said to Moses, 15 ‘If a person does not obey the Lord's holy rules he is sinning. He must give a male sheep to the Lord. He must do this even if he did not know that he had sinned. It is a gift to the Lord to pay for his sins. It must be a perfect male animal. It must be worth the correct amount of money. 16 He must also give money worth one fifth more. The person must give the sheep and the money to the priest. The priest will sacrifice the sheep. It is an atonement for the wrong things that the person has done. God will forgive the person.
11 My friends, remember that you are really strangers in this world. You do not belong here. So I am telling you not to do the bad things that your bodies may want to do. Those bad things fight against what is good for your soul. 12 You are living among people who do not know God. So be very careful that you always live in a good way. Sometimes these people may wrongly say that you do bad things. But if you continue to live in a good way, they will see that you really do good things. As a result, on the day when God comes as judge, they will give honour to him.
Obey people who have authority over you
13 Obey all people who have authority in this world. Obey them, because you are servants of the Lord Jesus. First of all, obey the king, who rules everyone. 14 Also obey the officers that serve the king. He has sent them to punish people who do bad things. And they praise people who do good things. 15 God wants you to do only what is good. Then silly people will not be able to say bad things against you. Those people do not really know what is true.
16 You are free people. But you are servants of God. So do not think, ‘Because I am free, I can do any bad thing that I want to do.’ 17 Respect all people. Love the believers as you would love your family. Obey God as your master. Respect the king.
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