Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Beth
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By taking heed according to your word.
10 With my whole heart I have sought you;
do not let me stray from your commands.
11 In my heart I have hidden your word,[a]
so that I may not sin against you.
12 Blessed are you, O Yahweh.
Teach me your statutes.
13 With my lips I have told of
all the ordinances of your mouth.
14 In the way of your testimonies I have rejoiced
as I would over all riches.
15 I will meditate on your precepts
and look at[b] your ways.
16 I will take delight in your statutes;
I will not forget your word.
The Benefits of Wisdom
2 My child, if you will receive[a] my sayings,
and hide my commands with you,
2 in order to incline your ear toward wisdom,
then you shall apply your heart to understanding.
3 For if you cry out for understanding,[b]
if you lift[c] your voice for insight,
4 if you seek her like silver
and search her out like treasure,[d]
5 then you will understand the fear of Yahweh,
and the knowledge of God you will find.
6 For Yahweh will give wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 For the upright, he stores[e] sound judgment, a shield for those who walk uprightly,
8 in order to guard paths of justice
and keep[f] the way of his faithful ones.
9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice
and uprightness—every good course—
10 for wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasing to your soul.[g]
11 Discretion will watch over you;
understanding will protect you,
12 in order to deliver you from the way of evil,[h]
from a man who speaks devious things—
13 those who forsake the paths of uprightness
to walk in ways of darkness,
14 those who are happy to do evil,
for they delight in the deviousness of evil,
15 who are crooked in their ways,[i]
and devious in their paths;
On Divorce
19 And it happened that when Jesus had finished these statements, he went away from Galilee and came into the region of Judea on the other side of the Jordan. 2 And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. 3 And Pharisees came up to him in order to[a] test him, and asked[b] if it was permitted for a man to divorce his wife for any cause. 4 And he answered and[c] said, “Have you not read that the one who created them[d] from the beginning made them male and female 5 and said, ‘On account of this a man will leave his[e] father and his[f] mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?[g] 6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, man must not separate.” 7 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command us[h] to give a document—a certificate of divorce—and to divorce her?” 8 He said to them, “Moses, with reference to your hardness of heart, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not like this. 9 Now I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except on the basis of sexual immorality, and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”[i]
10 The disciples[j] said to him, “If this is the case of a man with his[k] wife, it would be better not to marry!” 11 But he said to them, “Not everyone can accept this saying but those to whom it has been given. 12 For there are eunuchs who were born as such from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by people, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs[l] for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who is able to accept this,[m] let him accept it.”[n]
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