Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Call to Obedience

4 “Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and ordinances^(A) I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live,^(B) enter, and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors,^(C) is giving you. ² You must not add anything to what I command you or take anything away from it,^(D) so that you may keep the commands of the Lord your God I am giving you.

⁶ Carefully follow them, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the eyes of the peoples. When they hear about all these statutes, they will say, ‘This great nation is indeed a wise and understanding people.’ ⁷ For what great nation is there that has a god near to it as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call to him?^{(A) 8} And what great nation has righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?^(B)

⁹ “Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves,^(C) so that you don’t forget^(D) the things your eyes have seen and so that they don’t slip from your mind^[a] as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren.^(E)

Psalm 15

A Description of the Godly

A psalm of David.

¹⁷ Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.^{(A) 18} By his own choice, he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.^(B)

Hearing and Doing the Word

¹⁹ My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,^{(C) 20} for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness. ²¹ Therefore, ridding yourselves of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent,^[a] humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.^(D)

²² But^(E) be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³ Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face^[b] in a mirror. ²⁴ For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was. ²⁵ But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works—this person will be blessed in what he does.^(F)

²⁶ If anyone^[c] thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue,^(G) his religion is useless and he deceives himself. ²⁷ Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows^(H) in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world.^(I)

The Traditions of the Elders

7 The^(A) Pharisees^(B) and some of the scribes^(C) who had come from Jerusalem^(D) gathered around him. ² They observed that some of his disciples were eating bread with unclean^(E)—that is, unwashed—hands. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, keeping the tradition of the elders. ⁴ When they come from the marketplace,^(F) they do not eat unless they have washed.^(G) And there are many other customs they have received and keep, like the washing of cups, pitchers, kettles, and dining couches.^[a](H)) ⁵ So the Pharisees^(I) and the scribes^(J) asked him, “Why don’t your disciples live^[b] according to the tradition of the elders,^(K) instead of eating bread with ceremonially unclean^[c] hands?”

⁶ He answered them, “Isaiah^(L) prophesied^(M) correctly about you hypocrites,^(N) as it is written: ^(O)

⁸ Abandoning the command of God, you hold on to human tradition.”^[e]

¹⁴ Summoning^(A) the crowd again, he told them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand:^{(B) 15} Nothing that goes into a person from outside can defile him but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”^[a]

²¹ For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities,^(A) thefts, murders,^{(B) 22} adulteries,^(C) greed,^(D) evil actions, deceit,^(E) self-indulgence,^(F) envy,^[a] slander,^(G) pride,^(H) and foolishness.^{(I) 23} All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”