Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

^(A)A Prayer for Forgiveness^[a]

Human Wickedness

6 ^(A)When people had spread all over the world, and daughters were being born, ² some of the heavenly beings^[a] saw that these young women were beautiful, so they took the ones they liked. ³ Then the Lord said, “I will not allow people to live forever; they are mortal. From now on they will live no longer than 120 years.” ^4 (B)In those days, and even later, there were giants on the earth who were descendants of human women and the heavenly beings. They were the great heroes and famous men of long ago.

^5 (C)When the Lord saw how wicked everyone on earth was and how evil their thoughts were all the time, ⁶ he was sorry that he had ever made them and put them on the earth. He was so filled with regret

1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by order of God our Savior and Christ Jesus our hope—

^2 (A)To Timothy, my true son in the faith:

May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord give you grace, mercy, and peace.

Warnings against False Teaching

³ I want you to stay in Ephesus, just as I urged you when I was on my way to Macedonia. Some people there are teaching false doctrines, and you must order them to stop. ⁴ Tell them to give up those legends and those long lists of ancestors, which only produce arguments; they do not serve God's plan, which is known by faith. ⁵ The purpose of this order is to arouse the love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a genuine faith. ⁶ Some people have turned away from these and have lost their way in foolish discussions. ⁷ They want to be teachers of God's law, but they do not understand their own words or the matters about which they speak with so much confidence.

⁸ We know that the Law is good if it is used as it should be used. ⁹ It must be remembered, of course, that laws are made, not for good people, but for lawbreakers and criminals, for the godless and sinful, for those who are not religious or spiritual, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, ¹⁰ for the immoral, for sexual perverts, for kidnappers, for those who lie and give false testimony or who do anything else contrary to sound doctrine. ¹¹ That teaching is found in the gospel that was entrusted to me to announce, the Good News from the glorious and blessed God.