Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 106

¹ Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!^(A)

² Who can put into words and tell the mighty deeds of the Lord? Or who can show forth all the praise [that is due Him]?

³ Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are those who observe justice [treating others fairly] and who do right and are in right standing with God at all times.

⁴ [Earnestly] remember me, O Lord, when You favor Your people! O visit me also when You deliver them, and grant me Your salvation!—

⁵ That I may see and share the welfare of Your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, that I may glory with Your heritage.

⁶ We have sinned, as did also our fathers; we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.^(B)

⁷ Our fathers in Egypt understood not nor appreciated Your miracles; they did not [earnestly] remember the multitude of Your mercies nor imprint Your loving-kindness [on their hearts], but they were rebellious and provoked the Lord at the sea, even at the Red Sea.^(C)

⁸ Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake [to prove the righteousness of the divine character], that He might make His mighty power known.

⁹ He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it dried up; so He led them through the depths as through a pastureland.^(D)

¹⁰ And He saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the [Egyptian] enemy.^(E)

¹¹ And the waters covered their adversaries; not one of them was left.^(F)

¹² Then [Israel] believed His words [trusting in, relying on them]; they sang His praise.

¹² Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, utter a song! Arise, Barak, and lead away your captives, you son of Abinoam.

¹³ Then down marched the remnant of the nobles, the people of the Lord marched down for Me against the mighty.

¹⁴ Out of Ephraim they came down whose root is in Amalek, after you, Benjamin, with your kinsmen. Out of Machir came down commanders and lawgivers, and out of Zebulun those who ^[a]handle the pen or stylus of the writer.

¹⁵ And the princes of Issachar came with Deborah, and Issachar was faithful to Barak; into the valley they rushed forth at his heels. [But] among the clans of Reuben were great searchings of heart.

¹⁶ Why [Reuben] did you linger among the sheepfolds listening to the piping for the flocks? Among the clans of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.

¹⁷ Gilead remained beyond the Jordan, and why did Dan stay with the ships? Asher sat still on the seacoast and remained by his creeks. [These came not forth to battle for God’s people.]

¹⁸ But Zebulun was a people who endangered their lives to the death; Naphtali did also on the heights of the field.

¹⁹ The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo. Gain of booty they did not obtain.

²⁰ From the heavens the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera.

²¹ The torrent Kishon swept [the foe] away, the onrushing torrent, the torrent Kishon. O my soul, march on with strength!

¹³ I write this to you who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) the name of the Son of God [in ^[a]the peculiar services and blessings conferred by Him on men], so that you may know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that you [already] have life, ^[b]yes, eternal life.

¹⁴ And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which we have in Him: [we are sure] that if we ask anything (make any request) according to His will (in agreement with His own plan), He listens to and hears us.

¹⁵ And if (since) we [positively] know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted us as our present possessions] the requests made of Him.

¹⁶ If anyone sees his brother [believer] committing a sin that does not [lead to] death (the extinguishing of life), he will pray and [God] will give him life [yes, He will grant life to all those whose sin is not one leading to death]. There is a sin [that leads] to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.

¹⁷ All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin which does not [involve] death [that may be repented of and forgiven].

¹⁸ We know [absolutely] that anyone born of God does not [deliberately and knowingly] practice committing sin, but the One Who was begotten of God carefully watches over and protects him [Christ’s divine presence within him preserves him against the evil], and the wicked one does not lay hold (get a grip) on him or touch [him].

¹⁹ We know [positively] that we are of God, and the whole world [around us] is under the power of the evil one.

²⁰ And we [have seen and] know [positively] that the Son of God has [actually] come to this world and has given us understanding and insight [progressively] to perceive (recognize) and come to know better and more clearly Him Who is true; and we are in Him Who is true—in His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah). This [Man] is the true God and Life eternal.

²¹ Little children, keep yourselves from idols (false gods)—[from anything and everything that would occupy the place in your heart due to God, from any sort of substitute for Him that would take first place in your life]. Amen (so let it be).