Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
BOOK ONE(A)
True Happiness
1 Happy are those
who reject the advice of evil people,
who do not follow the example of sinners
or join those who have no use for God.
2 Instead, they find joy in obeying the Law of the Lord,
and they study it day and night.
3 (B)They are like trees that grow beside a stream,
that bear fruit at the right time,
and whose leaves do not dry up.
They succeed in everything they do.
4 But evil people are not like this at all;
they are like straw that the wind blows away.
5 Sinners will be condemned by God
and kept apart from God's own people.
6 The righteous are guided and protected by the Lord,
but the evil are on the way to their doom.
2 Moses called together all the people of Israel and said to them, “You saw for yourselves what the Lord did to the king of Egypt, to his officials, and to his entire country. 3 You saw the terrible plagues, the miracles, and the great wonders that the Lord performed. 4 But to this very day he has not let you understand what you have experienced. 5 For forty years the Lord led you through the desert, and your clothes and sandals never wore out. 6 You did not have bread to eat or wine or beer to drink, but the Lord provided for your needs in order to teach you that he is your God. 7 (A)And when we came to this place, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan came out to fight against us. But we defeated them, 8 (B)took their land, and divided it among the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh. 9 Obey faithfully all the terms of this covenant, so that you will be successful in everything you do.
10 “Today you are standing in the presence of the Lord your God, all of you—your leaders and officials, your men, 11 women, and children, and the foreigners who live among you and cut wood and carry water for you. 12 You are here today to enter into this covenant that the Lord your God is making with you and to accept its obligations, 13 so that the Lord may now confirm you as his people and be your God, as he promised you and your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 14 You are not the only ones with whom the Lord is making this covenant with its obligations. 15 He is making it with all of us who stand here in his presence today and also with our descendants who are not yet born.
16 “You remember what life was like in Egypt and what it was like to travel through the territory of other nations. 17 You saw their disgusting idols made of wood, stone, silver, and gold. 18 (C)Make sure that no man, woman, family, or tribe standing here today turns from the Lord our God to worship the gods of other nations. This would be like a root that grows to be a bitter and poisonous plant. 19 Make sure that there is no one here today who hears these solemn demands and yet convinces himself that all will be well with him, even if he stubbornly goes his own way. That would destroy all of you, good and evil alike. 20 The Lord will not forgive such a man. Instead, the Lord's burning anger will flame up against him, and all the disasters written in this book will fall on him until the Lord has destroyed him completely.
Not Peace, but a Sword(A)
34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the world. No, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 (B)I came to set sons against their fathers, daughters against their mothers, daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law; 36 your worst enemies will be the members of your own family.
37 “Those who love their father or mother more than me are not fit to be my disciples; those who love their son or daughter more than me are not fit to be my disciples. 38 (C)Those who do not take up their cross and follow in my steps are not fit to be my disciples. 39 (D)Those who try to gain their own life will lose it; but those who lose their life for my sake will gain it.
Rewards(E)
40 (F)“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes God's messenger because he is God's messenger, will share in his reward. And whoever welcomes a good man because he is good, will share in his reward. 42 You can be sure that whoever gives even a drink of cold water to one of the least of these my followers because he is my follower, will certainly receive a reward.”
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.