Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

This is a song that David wrote.

A prayer for help in trouble^[a]

⁵ There may be a truly good man who does what is right and fair. ⁶ He does not go up the mountains and eat the food of idols. He does not pray to the idols that other Israelites worship. He does not have sex with another man's wife. He does not have sex with a woman when she is unclean. ⁷ He is not cruel to other people. When he lends money to someone, he gives back anything that he has taken as a guarantee. He does not take things that belong to other people. He gives food to hungry people. He gives clothes to poor people. ⁸ He does not lend money to someone and then ask to receive more money back. He refuses to do anything that is wrong. He helps people in a way that is right and fair. ⁹ He faithfully obeys my laws and my rules.

A man like that is righteous. He will continue to live. That is what the Almighty Lord says.

¹⁰ But that man may have a son who is cruel and violent. He may kill other people. He may do those bad things that his father never did. ¹¹ He may go up the mountains and eat the food of idols. He might have sex with another man's wife. ¹² He might be cruel to people who are poor and weak. He might take things that belong to other people. He might not give back things that he took as a guarantee. He prays to idols. He does disgusting things. ¹³ When he lends money to people, he wants them to pay back a lot more money to him.

A man like that will not continue to live! He will certainly die, because he himself has done all these disgusting things. He is guilty, so he himself must die as his punishment.

¹⁴ But this wicked man might have a son himself. The son sees all the sins that his father has done. He thinks about them. Then he decides that he will not live as his father has lived. ¹⁵ He does not go up the mountains to eat the food of idols. He does not pray to the idols that other Israelites worship. He does not have sex with another man's wife. ¹⁶ He is not cruel to anyone. He does not keep anything that he has taken from someone as a guarantee. He does not rob other people. But he gives food to hungry people. He gives clothes to poor people. ¹⁷ He refuses to do anything that is wrong. When he lends money to people, he does not take more back money back from them. He obeys my rules and my laws.

This man will certainly continue to live. He will not die because of his father's sins. ¹⁸ But his father will die as punishment for his own sins. He cheated people. He robbed people. He did evil things among his own people. So he will die because of his own sins.

³² So we have come here to tell you this good news. God promised our ancestors that he would do these great things for his people. ³³ Now he has done these things for us who are alive today. He has raised up Jesus to live again. We can read about this in the second Psalm. God says,

³⁴ God caused Jesus to live again so that nothing would destroy his body. He will not die again. This is what God said to our ancestors:

³⁵ God also says this in another Psalm:

³⁶ While David was alive, he served God as God wanted him to do. Then he died and men buried him next to his ancestors. So worms destroyed David's body. ³⁷ But as for Jesus, God caused him to become alive again. He did not die again and nothing destroyed his body.

³⁸ My friends, I want all of you to know this. God forgives us for the bad things that we have done. He does this because of what Jesus did. That is my message to you. ³⁹ God can cause anyone to become right with him. If you believe in Jesus, God will make you free from your sins. God's Law that he gave to Moses cannot do this for you. That Law cannot make you free, even if you obey all of it. ⁴⁰ Be careful then! Remember what God's prophets spoke about long ago. Do not let that happen to you. This is what one of them wrote:^[d]

⁴¹ “Listen to me, you people who laugh at God!